Halil Suleyman "Sul" Ozerden ( tr, Halil Süleyman Özerden) (born December 5, 1966) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi and a former nominee to be a Circuit Judge for the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

Biography

Ozerden was born in Hattiesburg,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

to a Turkish family. He obtained his undergraduate education at

Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in Washington, D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service. Sul was also a four-year Navy

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

scholarship student, serving as battalion executive officer (1989). Upon receiving his commission as a naval officer, he completed United States Navy Flight School in

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, from 1989 to 1990, and was designated a

naval flight officer A naval flight officer (NFO) is a commissioned officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps who specializes in airborne weapons and sensor systems. NFOs are not pilots (naval aviators), but they may perform many "co-pilot" or ...

. Ozerden also obtained his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

in 1998 from

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

, and served as associate editor for the ''

Stanford Law Review The ''Stanford Law Review'' (SLR) is a legal journal produced independently by Stanford Law School students. The journal was established in 1948 with future U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher as its first president. The review produces ...

''.

Professional career

Ozerden served as a commissioned officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

from 1989 to 1995. His military service included: naval flight officer/bombardier-navigator, A-6E Intruder; over 1,000 flight hours; mission commander qualified; two six-month Western Pacific deployments aboard the USS ''Kitty Hawk''; head of Safety Department;

Navy Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fift ...

for missions flown in

Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational force which operated in Somalia from 5 December 1992 until 4 May 1993. A United States initiative (code-named Operation Restore Hope), U ...

(

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

) and

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of mon ...

(

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

); and the Navy Achievement Medal. He was honorably discharged with the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

(O-3). Ozerden began his legal career as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for United States District Judge

Eldon E. Fallon Eldon E. Fallon (born February 16, 1939) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Referred as a pioneer in the creative use of multidistrict litigations and bellwether trials, Fa ...

of the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1998 to 1999 and also served as a private practice attorney licensed in Mississippi from 1999 to 2007.

Federal judicial service

On the recommendation of United States Senators

Thad Cochran William Thad Cochran (; December 7, 1937 – May 30, 2019) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States Senator for Mississippi from 1978 until his resignation due to health issues in 2018. A Repub ...

and Trent Lott, President George W. Bush nominated Ozerden to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi on January 8, 2007. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

by a vote of 95–0 on April 24, 2007 and received his commission on May 1, 2007.

Nomination to appellate court

On June 11, 2019,

President Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

announced his intent to nominate Ozerden to serve as a United States circuit judge for the

."President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees" White House, June 11, 2019
On June 24, 2019, his nomination was sent to the Senate. He was nominated to the seat vacated by E. Grady Jolly, who assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on October 3, 2017. On July 17, 2019, a hearing on his nomination was held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nomination ...

. On September 12, 2019, Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

announced his opposition to the nomination. The Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on recommending Ozerden on September 26, 2019, but the vote was postponed after Senator

Josh Hawley Joshua David Hawley (born December 31, 1979) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Missouri since 2019. A member of the Republic ...

joined Ted Cruz in his opposition to Ozerden's elevation to the Circuit Court. On January 3, 2020, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the

Memberships

Ozerden became a member of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquarter ...

in 2019.United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: Halil Suleyman Ozerden
/ref>

References

External links

*
District Judge Sul Ozerden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozerden, Halil Suleyman 1966 births Living people American people of Turkish descent Georgetown University alumni Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Federalist Society members Stanford University alumni United States Navy officers United States Naval Flight Officers Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Military personnel from Mississippi People from Hattiesburg, Mississippi United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush 21st-century American judges