Judge Xavier Rodriguez
Western Texas U.S. District Court
Xavier Rodriguez was born in September 1961 in San Antonio, Texas. He earned an undergraduate degree in history from Harvard University, a Master of Public Administration degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas Law School.
He served in the U.S. Army Reserve as an officer for ten years after receiving a commission from the ROTC program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He engaged in the private practice of international law. He was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas for 14 months.
Rodriguez was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas by President George W. Bush. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and assumed office in August.
In the News…
A federal judge in San Antonio, Texas, found the federal government was 60 percent responsible for a 2017 mass shooting in which a former Air Force airman used firearms he should not have been allowed to purchase to kill 26 people at a rural Texas church.
In his opinion, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez said the Air Force did not use reasonable care when it failed to enter Devin Patrick Kelley’s plea to domestic violence charges in a database used for background checks for the purchase of a firearm.
Judge Rodriguez said the government bore “significant responsibility” for harm to victims of the November 2017 massacre at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, 31 miles east of San Antonio. In a 99-page decision, the judge rejected the government’s claim it could not foresee the shooting, saying it knew more than even Kelley’s parents about his capacity for violence.
“Had the government done its job and properly reported Kelley’s information into the background check system, [it] is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the church shooting,” Judge Rodriguez wrote.
Kelley, who was discharged from the Air Force for bad conduct, was held 40 percent responsible for the shootings. He also killed himself at the scene.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Rodriguez today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Xavier Rodriguez
Western Texas U.S. District Court
655 E. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd.
San Antonio, TX 78206
