J. Campbell Barker

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J. Campbell Barker
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
Incumbent
Assumed office
May 3, 2019
Appointed byDonald Trump
Preceded byLeonard Davis
Personal details
Born1980 (age 43–44)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
EducationTexas A&M University (BS)
University of Texas (JD)
Duke Law School (LLM)

John Campbell "Cam" Barker (born 1980) is an American federal judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Education and career

Barker earned his Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University, summa cum laude, in computer engineering.[1] As an undergraduate, he was inducted into Tau Beta Pi,[2] hired by Microsoft as a programmer,[3] and co-authored a paper published in the IEEE Transactions on Multimedia.[4] Barker then earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law with highest honors, graduating first in his class.[3] While on the law review there, Barker published an article on copyright statutory damages[5] that was cited by the district court in Sony BMG v. Tenenbaum, 721 F. Supp. 2d 85 (D. Mass. 2010).

Upon graduation from law school, Barker served as a law clerk to Judge William Curtis Bryson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Judge John M. Walker Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. After his clerkships, he served as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice's Criminal Division for four years and was detailed as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in 2009. Barker prosecuted three members of the MS-13 gang who were convicted of conspiracy and racketeering.[6] Barker was given the Department of Justice's Meritorious Award three times[2] while serving under U.S. Attorneys General Michael Mukasey and Eric Holder. Also while at the Department of Justice, the American Inns of Court selected Barker to visit London and study English law as one of two annual Pegasus Scholars.[7]

From 2011 to 2015, Barker practiced commercial and intellectual property law at Yetter Coleman LLP in Texas, where he was named a partner.[2] While at the firm, Barker was twice named to the Pro Bono College of the State Bar of Texas[2] and was named Appellate Lawyer of the Week by Texas Lawyer magazine for helping an immigrant reverse a decision denying him asylum.[8]

From 2015 to 2019, Barker served as Deputy Solicitor General of Texas under Solicitors General Scott A. Keller and Kyle D. Hawkins, in which he helped to represent the state of Texas on appeal before federal and state courts in civil and criminal actions.[9] For his work there, Barker twice earned a Best Brief Award from the National Association of Attorneys General.[2]

While a sitting judge, Barker graduated in 2023 from Duke Law School with an LLM in judicial studies.[10] In 2024, a version of his LLM thesis paper was published in the Washington University Law Review with the title "Standing Orders: A Survey of Individual Judges’ Regulation of Practice in All Future Cases Before Them.[11]

Federal judicial service

On January 23, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Barker to the seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated by Judge Leonard Davis, who retired on May 15, 2015.[9][12][13] On May 9, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[14] On June 7, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote.[15]

On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Barker for a federal judgeship.[16] His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day.[17] On February 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote.[18] On April 30, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 52–46 vote.[19] On May 1, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by a 51–47 vote.[20] He received his judicial commission on May 3, 2019.[21]

Notable rulings

On February 25, 2021, Barker struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's federal eviction moratorium.[22]

On March 9, 2024, Barker vacated the National Labor Relations Board's final rule on joint-employer status, issued in October 2023,[23] that was set to be in effect 3 days later. He had previously stayed the rule until the 11th.[24]

On August 26, 2024, Barker paused President Biden's Keeping Families Together initiative which aims to offer a path to citizenship for immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens and living in the United States illegally.[25] This was placed on temporary hold due to a lawsuit from 16 states, citing it could be harmful to them. On November 7, 2024, Barker ruled that the Biden administration lacked the authority to establish the program and to bypass Congress to create immigration legislation by executive order.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ "AG Paxton Applauds Senate Confirmation of Texas Deputy Solicitor General Cam Barker to the U.S. District Court in Tyler". Texas Attorney General. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e “Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees,” United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
  3. ^ a b “Investiture Ceremony”, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
  4. ^ Ye, Dejian & Barker, J. & Xiong, Zixiang & Zhu, Wenwu. (2004). Wavelet-Based VBR Video Traffic Smoothing. Multimedia, IEEE Transactions on. 6. 611 - 623. 10.1109/TMM.2004.830817.
  5. ^ Barker, J. Cam, “Grossly Excessive Penalties in the Battle Against Illegal File-Sharing: The Troubling Effects of Aggregating Minimum Statutory Damages for Copyright Infringement,” 83 Tex. L. Rev. 525 (2004).
  6. ^ Voruganti, Harsh (February 21, 2018). "J. Campbell Barker – Nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas". Vetting Room. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  7. ^ American Inns of Court, “Pegasus Scholarship Recipients: 2011”.
  8. ^ John Council, “Appellate Lawyer of the Week: Pro Bono Political Persecution Protection”, Texas Lawyer (Sept. 16, 2013).
  9. ^ a b "President Donald J. Trump Announces Tenth Wave of Judicial Candidates" White House, January 23, 2018 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  10. ^ https://judicialstudies.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-MJS-Bios-Photos.pdf
  11. ^ https://wustllawreview.org/2024/11/05/standing-orders-a-survey-of-individual-judges-regulation-of-practice-in-all-future-cases-before-them/
  12. ^ "Trump nominates four federal judges for Texas, including another Paxton aide to replace controversial 'Satan's plan' nominee". The Dallas Morning News. January 23, 2018.
  13. ^ "Four Nominations Sent to the Senate Today". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
  14. ^ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Nominations for May 9, 2018
  15. ^ "Results of Executive Business Meeting – June 7, 2018, Senate Judiciary Committee" (PDF).
  16. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Judicial Nominees", White House, January 23, 2019
  17. ^ "Nominations Sent to the Senate", White House, January 23, 2019
  18. ^ "Results of Executive Business Meeting – February 7, 2019" (PDF). Senate Judiciary Committee.
  19. ^ "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture J. Campbell Barker to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas)". United States Senate. April 30, 2019.
  20. ^ "On the Nomination (Confirmation J. Campbell Barker, of Texas, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas)". United States Senate. May 1, 2019.
  21. ^ J. Campbell Barker at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  22. ^ Millhiser, Ian (February 26, 2021). "A Trump judge's order striking down the federal eviction moratorium, briefly explained". Vox.
  23. ^ "Board Issues Final Rule on Joint-Employer Status". National Labor Relations Board. October 26, 2023.
  24. ^ "NLRB's Joint-Employer Rule Vacated by U.S. District Judge". National Labor Relations Board. March 9, 2024.
  25. ^ "Texas judge blocks Biden citizenship plan for migrant spouses". www.bbc.com. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  26. ^ Galvan, Astrid (November 7, 2024). "Federal judge strikes down Biden program for undocumented immigrants". Axios. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
2019–present 		Incumbent
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