Jeremy Kernodle
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jeremy Daniel Kernodle (born 1976) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2018 as a
United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
of the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to ...
.


Early life and education

Kernodle was born in 1976 in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
. He graduated from
Harding University Harding University is a Private university, private Christian university with its main campus in Searcy, Arkansas, United States. Established in 1924, the institution offers Undergraduate education, undergraduate, Postgraduate education, gradu ...
in 1998 with joint
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
and
Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...
degrees, ''summa cum laude''. He then attended the
Vanderbilt University Law School Vanderbilt University Law School (also known as VLS) is the law school of Vanderbilt University. Established in 1874, it is one of the oldest law schools in the southern United States. Vanderbilt Law enrolls approximately 640 students, with each ...
, where he was an articles editor of the ''
Vanderbilt Law Review The ''Vanderbilt Law Review'' is the flagship academic journal of Vanderbilt University Law School. The law review was founded in 1947 and is published six times per year. In 2022, it was ranked #8 among general-topic law reviews by the Washingt ...
''. He graduated in 2001 ranked first in his class with a
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
with highest honors.


Legal career

Upon graduation from law school, Kernodle was a
law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...
to Judge
Gerald Bard Tjoflat Gerald Bard Tjoflat (born December 6, 1929) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a Senior United States circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He was appointed in 1975 by President Gerald Ford. He previously ...
of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal appellate court over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * Southern District o ...
from 2001 to 2002. He then practiced appellate and commercial litigation at
Covington & Burling Covington & Burling LLP is an American multinational law firm. Known as a white-shoe law firm, it is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and advises clients on transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. The firm has addition ...
as an associate. After his stint at Covington & Burling, he served in the
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that supports the attorney general in their role as legal adviser to the president and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the atto ...
as an attorney-advisor. Before becoming a judge, he was a partner at Haynes and Boone, where he founded the
False Claims Act False or falsehood may refer to: * False (logic), the negation of truth in classical logic * Lie or falsehood, a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement * False statement, aka a falsehood, falsity, misstatement or untruth, is a st ...
practice group and worked on healthcare litigation.


Federal judicial service

On January 23, 2018, President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
nominated Kernodle to the seat on the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. ...
vacated by Judge Michael H. Schneider Sr., who assumed senior status on January 7, 2016. On May 9, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the
Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...
. On June 7, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 14–7 vote. On October 11, 2018, his nomination was confirmed by
voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...
. He received his judicial commission on November 2, 2018.


Notable rulings

In December 2020, Texas Republican congressman
Louis Gohmert Louis Buller Gohmert Jr. (; born August 18, 1953) is an American attorney, politician, and former judge who was the U.S. representative from Texas's 1st congressional district from 2005 to 2023. Gohmert is a Republican and was part of the Tea ...
and others filed a suit in Kernodle's court, naming vice president
Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...
as a defendant in arguing he constitutionally has "sole discretion in determining which electoral votes to count for a given State, and must ignore and may not rely on any provisions of the
Electoral Count Act The Electoral Count Act of 1887 (ECA) (, later codified at Title 3 of the United States Code, Title 3, Chapter 1) is a United States federal law that added to procedures set out in the Constitution of the United States for the counting of Uni ...
that would limit his exclusive authority." Pence and the Justice Department asked that the suit be dismissed, with the DOJ arguing that the suit "does not properly lie against the Vice President, and plaintiffs’ suit can be resolved on a number of threshold issues," and that the suit was not filed in a timely manner to justify "expedited declaratory judgment and emergency injunctive relief against the Vice President." Kernodle dismissed the suit on January 1, 2021, ruling that Gohmert and the other plaintiffs lacked
standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an upright (orthostatic) position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the ...
, and that Gohmert "suffered no legally recognizable injury".


References


External links

* 1976 births Living people 21st-century American lawyers Harding University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Lawyers from Memphis, Tennessee People associated with Covington & Burling Texas lawyers Texas Republicans United States Department of Justice lawyers United States district court judges appointed by Donald Trump Vanderbilt University Law School alumni {{US-federal-judge-stub