'I'm incredibly honored': El Pasoan Leon Schydlower sworn in as new U.S. District Court judge (2024)

A long and stressful confirmation process came to end late in the night on March 26 when El Pasoan Leon Schydlower received a life-changing call from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The caller notified the longtime public servant that President Joe Biden signed his commission and he was officially appointed as the newest federal district court judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

The next day, Schydlower, 52, was sworn in at the Albert Armendariz Sr.Federal Courthousein DowntownEl Paso by his mentor and friend U.S. SeniorJudge David Briones. The swearing in marked the beginning of a new journey in Schydlower's life of public service.

"It's an honor, but it's also just another opportunity for me to continue contributing to our country," Schydlower said. "This is what I wanted to do when I joined the Navy 27 years ago. When I graduated from law school, I thought my immediate need was to do some sort of public service. So I joined the military as a Navy lawyer and prosecutor, and that's kind of what led that spark."

Schydlower, who has served as a federal magistrate judge since 2015 for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, was nominated for the position in December by Biden.

Schydlower and his staff eagerly awaited the Senate's vote late into the night on March 22 in his office at the federal courthouse. The long night ended in celebration as he was easily confirmed by the Senate in a 90-8 vote as a federal district court judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

"It was a long process and it was stressful at times," Schydlower said. "I was unbelievably honored. It's not often that someone hears that the president of the United States is going to nominate them for a lifetime position. I took that to be a recognition that maybe I did succeed to some extent in creating the kind of court that people like to appear before to get their cases resolved."

More: El Paso judge Leon Schydlower nominated by Biden for federal District Court Judge

Shortly after the swearing in ceremony, Schydlower and his staff began moving into his new courtroom and preparing to start hearing cases. Schydlower will presided over criminal and civil cases in El Paso and throughout the Western District of Texas.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas includes El Paso, Austin, San Antonio and Del Rio.

Schydlower has the knowledge and experience to continue to be a great judge, Briones said.

"He's a great guy and a great judge," Briones said. "He's well respected in the community. Everybody likes him and we're lucky to have him. He's very qualified and he has done a great job here as a magistrate, quite frankly. He has been and will continue to be valuable to us. It was great relief that we have some help."

Schydlower fills a key vacancy for the Western District of Texas, which handles one of the largest caseloads in the country. The vacancies were caused by the passing of longtime El Paso federal Judge Philip Ray Martinezin 2021 and the promotions of judges Frank Montalvo and David C. Guaderrama to senior U.S. district judges.

U.S. Department of Justice Senior Attorney Advisor Ernesto Gonzalez also was confirmed by the Senate Friday, March 22 in a 88-7 vote to take over as a federal district court judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Del Rio.

Legacy of serving community

The son of a Cuban migrant and a product of El Paso public schools began his career by receiving his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1995 and then joining the U.S. Navy as an attorney. To this day, he serves as a judge and legal educator in the U.S. Air Force. He holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force.

He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993 after graduating from Hank High School.

"I've been here almost all of my whole life," said Schydlower, who has lived in El Paso since he was about 4 years old. "I went to El Paso public schools. I graduated from Hanks High School. After college, law school and the military, I made it a point to come home and I've been home ever since.

"I'm an El Pasoan to my core and I hope (El Pasoans) know that I will put in the work and use all the skills and experiences that I've acquired during these last 30 years of being a lawyer and judge to be a U.S. district judge that El Paso can be proud of."

Schydlower's commitment of public service was developed through his parents, he said.

More: El Paso federal magistrate Judge Leon Schydlower moves closer to US Senate confirmation

"My dad immigrated from Cuba in September of 1961," Schydlower said. "He had grown up there and he left his parents on the dock in Havana to come make a new life in the United States. Once he got here, he went to the University of Illinois and ultimately became a physician, but spent the majority of his career, in fact, all of his career in public service and spent 20 years in the Army.

"We came to El Paso and he became the dean of admissions here at our medical school in El Paso. I think a lot of that was to thank the United States and to thank the people of the United States for giving him the life and the opportunity that he would not have had if he had not escaped from Cuba. He put that into me, my brother and my sister."

Schydlower hopes his appointment as a federal district court judge will serve as an example — especially to young students — that an El Paso kid can reach their dreams through hard work and dedication.

"I think it's good for young people, especially to see that a product of the El Paso public schools made it to one of the most important positions, not only in law, but in the community," Schydlower said.

Experience, background leads to quick confirmation

Schydlower's legal experience and years of public service played a large role in his confirmation by the Senate.

He worked as a private practice lawyer from 2000 to 2015 and worked as a special assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii from 1998 to 2000. He has decades of legal experience in the military as a member of both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force. He served as an attorney and judge in the military for more than a decade.

He applied for the position in July and the months that followed included several meetings, interviews and vetting of his background. A process that did not end until the Senate's final vote.

"It was a long process that took several months," Schydlower said. "Last summer, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) put together this committee of the best lawyers in Texas, retired judges and retired Texas Supreme Court judges. They solicited applications, so I submitted my application and then after a couple of months, I got an invitation to interview with this particular committee in Houston in August."

The interview was the first of many nerve-racking meetings, but Schydlower let his decades of experience do the talking.

"I went to Houston to interview with the committee and there were 30 attorneys sitting around the table and retired judges, the best attorneys in Texas," he said. "There were four or five of us who made that round of interviews. It was a couple of days after that I got a notice that I was going to be invited for interviews with Sens. Cornyn and Cruz individually in Washington D.C. in late August."

He flew to Washington D.C. to meet with U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, and later Cornyn and Cruz.

"I don't know if I made the best first impression," Schydlower said. "I had to walk up three stories or more on these long steep stairs and when I got to the top I was exhausted and breathing hard. I thought I would have a few minutes to gather myself, but then I was led right in to meet with Cornyn. But overall it went well. The two senators were unbelievably gracious."

Cruz's questions focused on legal issues, while Cornyn focused on who Schydlower was as a person.

"His (Cruz's) questions were, as you might imagine, very focused on legal issues, legal questions, my legal philosophies, my judicial philosophy," Schydlower said. "He wanted to make sure they were nominating somebody who would fill the position with honor and dignity and adherence to the law. Sen. Cornyn was a much more getting to know the person type of interview."

In the end, the two Republican senators sent their recommendation of nominating Schydlower to Biden. He received Biden's nomination in December and appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciaryin January.

"I certainly was as prepared as I could be for that, but it was a stressful process," Schydlower said. "Once I got the butterflies out and I sat down, I was focused and I was ready to explain to the committee why I would be a good U.S. district judge. Once the butterflies went away, it was probably one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences of my life because I was talking to U.S. senators after having been nominated by the president of the United States.

More: El Paso Judge Leon Schydlower receives strong support for Senate judiciary committee

"I was answering questions about why I would be good to fill that role. I was glad when it was over, but while it was going on, I certainly enjoyed that and I hoped I made my case to the senators and it appears that perhaps I did."

With strong support from Cornyn and Cruz, Schydlower received 20-1 votes from thejudiciary committee during a Feb. 29 meeting and his nomination was then sent to the full Senate for vote.

"It was almost anticlimactic in the sense that I don't think there was much debate (in the Senate) at all," said Carl Tobias, Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond's School of Law. "The votes on the Senate floor for Schydlower and Gonzalez were two of the highest vote totals of any Biden nominee for the bench. I think that just testifies to the quality of the two nominees. They were very experienced and had done so well in their careers before that there was just no question."

Tobias, a prominent national law scholarwith an emphasis on federal judicial selection, said the confirmation of Schydlower and Gonzalez showed bipartisanship lead to the best candidates receiving the positions.

"That's warp speed compared to some nominees," Tobias said of the fast confirmation of the two nominees. "Some nominees take a year or more. The quick confirmation of Schydlower and Gonzalez shows that Republican senators who are willing to work with the White House will result in the best candidates being selected and that what they were — the most qualified and best candidates."

Schydlower said he was "very honored" to have earned such strong bipartisanship support.

"These are difficult times in Washington D.C. and in our country right now, but I think all parties who were interested saw the need to make sure that these two judicial emergencies were filled," Schydlower said. "El Paso had a judicial emergency. Del Rio had a judicial emergency. And I think the senators along with, in my case, Congresswoman Escobar, got together and decided that they were going to do everything that they could to make sure that the person who was selected was the most qualified and to that extent they thought that was me. I'm incredibly honored."

Immigration, drug trafficking and border crime focus of nomination

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas sees thousands of cases every year. The cases involve murders, drug cartels, human smuggling and drug trafficking.

Border crime was the focus of the judiciary committee during Schydlower's confirmation.

A big impact on the federal court system is the increase of fentanyl-related cases. As the number of overdose deaths of fentanyl continues to rise in the U.S., so does the prosecution of the drug traffickers bringing the deadly drug into the U.S.

"When I started here in November of 2015, I don't know that I ever saw a fentanyl case," Schydlower said. "The cases back then were heavily weighted to marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine when it came to the drug cases. It's amazing how much things have changed in just eight years. Now more than half of the cases that I see involve fentanyl, which is much more lethal than anything that had ever been brought in front of me in 2015.

"I almost never see marijuana cases anymore. That may have something to do with the fact of legalization around the country, or the fact that federal resources have to be directed to what appears to be the most lethal drug right now. Not to say that methamphetamine is not, but the most dangerous cases I see right now involve fentanyl."

To tackle these issues, a judge must maintain an impartial courtroom and ensure the laws of the U.S. are fairly applied, Schydlower said.

"What we can do as a judge is make sure that all litigants are treated fairly," Schydlower said. "We don't write the laws here in the courthouse. The only thing that judges are supposed to do is decide what the law is and fairly apply it to the facts of that particular case.

"So we take each case individually as it comes to us, figure out what the correct law is that applies to that particular case, and determine what the facts are. And if a jury is deciding the case, make sure that the jury is instructed correctly and that the trial is conducted such that the jury is fairly apprised of the facts of the case, and the lawyers are given an opportunity to present their cases."

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter@AMartinezEPT.