Sidney Fitzwater
2018 - Present
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Sidney Allen Fitzwater is a federal judge on senior status with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He joined the court in 1986 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. He assumed senior status September 22, 2018.
From 2007 to 2014, Fitzwater served as the chief judge of the district court.
Early life and education
Born in Olney, Maryland, Fitzwater graduated from Baylor University with his bachelor's degree in 1975 and from Baylor University School of Law with his J.D. in 1976.[1]
Professional career
- 1986-2018: Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- 2007-2014: Chief judge
- 1982-1986: Judge, Texas' 298th Judicial District
- 1978-1982: Private practice, Dallas, Texas
- 1976-1978: Private practice, Houston, Texas[1]
Judicial career
Northern District of Texas
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| Nominee Information |
| Name: Sidney A. Fitzwater |
| Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 48 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: January 29, 1986
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 ABA Rating:
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| Questionnaire: |
| Hearing: February 5, 1986
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| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: February 27, 1986
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| Confirmed: March 18, 1986
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| Vote: 52-42
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President Ronald Reagan (R) nominated Fitzwater to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas January 29, 1986, to a seat vacated by Robert Madden Hill. The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on Fitzwater's nomination February 5. U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) reported the nomination February 27. The U.S. Senate confirmed Fitzwater on a recorded 52-42 vote on March 18. He received his commission March 19. He assumed senior status September 22, 2018.
From 2007 to 2014, Fitzwater served as chief judge of the district court.[1][2]
Noteworthy cases
Verizon/MetroPCS case (2009)
Judge Fitzwater was the presiding judge in a contract dispute case between MetroPCS and Virgin Mobile. The lawsuit alleged that MetroPCS interfered with Virgin's contracts to use Virgin phones on MetroPCS. Even though the contract dispute was thrown out, the judge allowed Virgin to seek further litigation on copyright litigation.[3]
See also
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Federal Judicial Center, "Biography of Judge Sidney Allen Fitzwater," accessed May 21, 2017
- ↑ United States Congress, "PN 876-5 — Sidney A. Fitzwater — The Judiciary," accessed May 21, 2017
- ↑ MobileBurn, "Federal judge throws out Virgin Mobile claim that MetroPCS meddled with contracts," October 1, 2009
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Robert Madden Hill |
Northern District of Texas 1986–2018 Seat #6 |
Succeeded by: Brantley Starr
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| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 |
Bartlett • Beam • Becker • Bork • Cacheris • Cardamone • Chapman • Coughenour • Cox • Crow • Cyr • Doumar • Eschbach • Forrester • Garwood • Gibson • Glasser • Hall • Hamilton • Head • Jones • Kiser • Krenzler • Lee • Magnuson • McLaughlin • Miner • Moore • Nowlin • O'Connor • Pierce • Posner • Potter • Russell • Ryan • Shabaz • Sprizzo • Stevens • Waters • Wilhoit • Wilkins • Winter | ||
| 1982 |
Acker • Acosta • Altimari • Bell • Bissell • Black • Bullock • Caldwell • Coffey • Contie • Coyle • Dowd • Fagg • Fong • Fox • Gadbois • Gibson • Ginsburg • Hart • Higginbotham • Hogan • Irving • Jackson • Jolly • Kanne • Kovachevich • Krupansky • Lynch • Mansmann • McNamara • Mencer • Mentz • Mihm • Moody • Nordberg • Paul • Pieras • Plunkett • Porfilio • Potter • Pratt • Rafeedie • Restani • Roberts • Scalia • Selya • Telesca • Wellford | ||
| 1983 |
Baldock • Barbour • Barry • Bowman • Carman • Carter • Curran • Davis • Dorsey • Feldman • Fish • Flaum • Gibbons • Hallanan • Harris • Hinojosa • Hull • Hupp • Katz • Keenan • Kelly • Kram • Laffitte • Limbaugh, Sr. • Limbaugh, Sr. • Milburn • Nesbitt • Nevas • O'Neill • Rymer • Sharp • Starr • Vinson • Vukasin • Wexler • Woods | ||
| 1984 |
Barker • Beezer • Biggers • Billings • Bissell • Boyle • Brewster • Browning • DiCarlo • Duhe • Garcia • George • Hall • Hargrove • Higgins • Hill • Holland • Ideman • Jarvis • Keller • Leavy • Lee • Legge • Leisure • Little • Livaudais • Longobardi • McKibben • Milburn • Newman • Norgle • Prado • Rea • Rosenblatt • Rovner • Scirica • Smith, Jr. • Sneeden • Stotler • Suhrheinrich • Torruella • Wiggins • Wilkinson | ||
| 1985 |
Alley • Altimari • Anderson • Aquilino • Archer • Arnold • Baldock • Batchelder • Battey • Broomfield • Brown • Brown • Brunetti • Buckley • Cobb • Conmy • Cowen • Davidson • Dimmick • Duff • Easterbrook • Edgar • Farnan • Fernandez • Fitzpatrick • Fuste • Greene • Gunn • Guy • Hall • Hilton • Holderman • Hughes • Johnson • Jones • Korman • Kozinski • La Plata • Leinenweber • Letts • Lovell • Ludwig • Maloney • Mansmann • Marcus • McDonald • Meredith • Miller • Mills • Miner • Motz • Nelson • Noonan • Porfilio • Revercomb • Rhoades • Ripple • Rodriguez • Rosenbaum • Roth • Ryan • Sam • Scott • Sentelle • Silberman • Sporkin • Stanton • Stapleton • Strand • Strom • Tacha • Tevrizian • Thompson • Todd • Tsoucalas • Walker • Walter • Weber • Williams • Wilson • Wingate • Wolf • Wollman • Young • Zloch | ||
| 1986 |
Anderson • Boggs • Bryan • Cedarbaum • Cholakis • Conway • Davies • Dearie • Dubina • Duggan • Edmondson • Fawsett • Fitzwater • Gex • Graham • Hackett • Hansen • Henderson • Hittner • Howard • Jensen • Kay • Kleinfeld • Kosik • Lagueux • Lechner • Magill • Mahoney • Manion • McAvoy • McQuade • Norris • O'Scannlain • Rehnquist • Ryskamp • Scalia • Selya • Simpson • Smalkin • Spencer • Stiehl • Wilkins • Williams • Woodlock • Zatkoff | ||
| 1987 |
Alesia • Beam • Bell • Conboy • Cowen • Cummings • Daronco • Doty • Dwyer • Ebel • Ellis • Gadola • Gawthrop • Greenberg • Harrington • Howard • Hoyt • Hutchinson • Kanne • Kelly • Larimer • Leavy • Lew • Marsh • Mayer • McKinney • Michel • Mukasey • Musgrave • Niemeyer • Parker • Phillips • Politan • Pro • Raggi • Reasoner • Reed • Scirica • Sentelle • Smith • Smith • Stadtmueller • Standish • Tinder • Torres • Trott • Turner • Van Antwerpen • Voorhees • Webb • Whipple • Wolin • Wolle • Wood • Zagel | ||
| 1988 |
Arcara • Babcock • Brorby • Butler • Cambridge • Camp • Conlon • Cox • Dubois • Duhe • Ezra • Forester • Friedman • Garza • Hutton • Jordan • Kennedy • Lake • Lamberth • Lifland • Lozano • Marovich • Nygaard • Patterson • Schell • Smith • Smith • Tilley • Waldman • Zilly | ||
Federal courts:
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas
State courts:
Texas Supreme Court • Texas Court of Appeals • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals • Texas District Courts • Texas County Courts • Texas County Courts at Law • Texas Statutory Probate Courts • Texas Justice of the Peace Courts
State resources:
Courts in Texas • Texas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Texas
