| Marco Antonio Hernandez | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office February 9, 2011 |
|
| Appointed by | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Garr King |
| Circuit Court judge in Washington County, Oregon | |
| In office 1995–2011 |
|
| Appointed by | Barbara Roberts |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1957 Nogales, Arizona |
| Alma mater | Western Oregon State College (B.A.) University of Washington School of Law (J.D.) |
Marco Antonio Hernandez (born 1957) is an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. A native of Arizona, he served as a Circuit Court judge in Washington County from 1995 until 2011, including as presiding judge for three years. He was nominated for a federal judgeship with the United States District Court for the District of Oregon three times under two U.S. Presidents, and confirmed as judge in February 2011.
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Hernandez was born in Nogales, Arizona, in 1957 and is of Hispanic descent.[1][2][3] He moved to Oregon at 17 and began work as a dishwasher, and then as a janitor before working his way through community college while working as a teacher's aide.[4] Hernandez then moved on to a four-year school and received a B.A. degree from Western Oregon State College (now known as Western Oregon University) in 1983.[5][4] He then attended the University of Washington School of Law and earned his J.D. in 1986.[5]
After law school he returned to Oregon where he spent three years working for Legal Aid Services of Oregon where he often represented farm workers.[2][6] Hernandez himself had picked crops in the field in his youth.[2] Following his time with legal aid, Hernandez the joined the Washington County District Attorney's office as a deputy prosecutor in 1989.[7]
Shortly before leaving office in January 1995, Governor Barbara Roberts appointed Hernandez to be a Circuit Court judge in Washington County, Oregon.[3] In 2001, he allowed a claim for loss of companionship in a pet case to go to trial, the first time such as claim was allowed to go to trial in the United States.[8] Hernandez served as presiding judge of the County's Circuit Court from 2002 to 2005.[5][7] He won re-election to a new six-year term on the court in May 2008.[2] He has also served as the judge for the county's Mental Health Court,[9] and as presiding judge from 2002 until 2005.[10]
In January 2008, Hernandez was one of three candidates recommended by a six-member judicial selection committee to replace Garr King on the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.[11] President George W. Bush selected Hernandez to fill the vacancy on the District Court of Oregon and submitted his nomination on July 23, 2008.[2] Senators Gordon H. Smith and Ron Wyden supported the nomination, but it was made with less than six months remaining in the Bush Presidency.[2][12] The nomination was not acted upon by the 110th Congress and was thus returned.[13]
Republican Gordon Smith was defeated for re-election in 2008, and newly-elected President Barack Obama restarted the judicial selection process for the District of Oregon.[3] Democrat Ron Wyden recommended Hernandez in addition to five other candidates selected by a thirteen-member judicial selection committee.[12] On July 14, 2010, Obama renominated Hernandez to replace Garr King.[14] He is one of few people to be nominated to the federal bench by presidents from two different political parties.[7] The Senate failed to act on Obama's nomination, and President Obama nominated Hernandez again in January 2011.[4] On February 7, 2011, the Senate unanimously confirmed Hernandez as the newest judge for the District of Oregon,[4] and he received his commission on February 9.[10]