Robert Lee Pitman (born 1962) is an American attorney who serves 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

United States District Court for the Western District of Texas The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (in case citations, W.D. Tex.) is a federal district court. The court convenes in San Antonio with divisions in Austin, Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Pecos, and Waco. It has ...

. He is a former

United States attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the Western District of Texas. He was previously a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

of the same court.

Early life and education

Pitman was born in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, in 1962, the youngest of five children. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree from

Abilene Christian University Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a Private university, private Christian research university in Abilene, Texas, United States. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as an R2 (High Research Spending and Doctorate Production) institutio ...

, where he was student body president. Pitman then obtained 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 ...

from the

University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Texas at Austin, a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas. According to Texas Law’s American Bar ...

. After completing law school, Pitman served as 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 ...

for Judge

David Owen Belew Jr. David Owen Belew Jr. (March 27, 1920 – November 21, 2001) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Education and career Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Belew was in the United States ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (in case citations, N.D. Tex.) is a United States district court. Its first judge, Andrew Phelps McCormick, was appointed to the court on April 10, 1879. The court convenes in ...

in Fort Worth. Pitman holds a

Master of Studies A Master of Studies or Master in Studies (M.St., MSt, or MStud; ) is the holder of a postgraduate degree awarded by the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of St Andrews, the Australian National University, the University of ...

degree in

International Human Rights Law International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Career

Following his judicial clerkship, Pitman began his career at the international law firm of

Fulbright & Jaworski Fulbright & Jaworski was founded in Houston, Texas, in 1919 by Rufus Fulbright. Fulbright & Jaworski represented clients in the energy, financial, and healthcare industries. As trustees of the M.D. Anderson Foundation, Fulbright & Jaworski partn ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. In 2001, Pitman briefly served as interim

for the Western District of Texas. As United States attorney on September 11, 2001, he formed the first

anti-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

task force in the district, uniting local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in their counter-terrorism efforts and in their work to better secure Texas' international border. He was replaced by

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

appointee Johnny Sutton, who asked Pitman to remain in the office as his chief deputy. In October 2003, Pitman was selected to serve as a

for the

. As magistrate judge, Pitman consistently ranked highest among all local, state, and federal judges in the judicial poll conducted annually by the Austin Bar Association. In 2009, Republican Senators

John Cornyn John Cornyn III ( ; born February 2, 1952) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. ...

and

Kay Bailey Hutchison Kay Bailey Hutchison (born Kathryn Ann Bailey; July 22, 1943) is an American attorney, television correspondent, politician, diplomat, and was the 22nd United States Permanent Representative to NATO from 2017 until 2021. A member of the Republic ...

sent Pitman's name to Democratic President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

as one of two candidates for United States attorney for the Western District of Texas. The recommendation of Pitman, who is

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

, was publicly opposed by a

social conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

group in Texas. On June 27, 2011, almost two years after Pitman was recommended for the post, Obama notified members of Congress that he would nominate Pitman to be United States attorney for the Western District of Texas. He was formally nominated the following day. Citing his credentials and experience, and expressing a desire to fill the position with the most qualified candidate, he was supported by Texas' two United States Senators, both Republicans. With their support, the United States Senate confirmed Pitman to be the chief federal law enforcement officer in the Western District of Texas on September 26, 2011. He took office on October 3, 2011. He left office on December 19, 2014, upon receiving his judicial commission. He is currently an adjunct professor at the

Federal judicial service

On June 26, 2014, President

nominated Pitman to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, to the seat vacated by Judge William Royal Furgeson Jr., who assumed senior status on November 30, 2008. He received a hearing before the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary 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 ...

for September 9, 2014. On November 20, 2014, his nomination was reported out of committee 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 ...

. On Saturday, December 13, 2014,

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and people of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as chief spokespersons for their respective political parties, holding the ...

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2 ...

filed a motion to invoke

cloture Cloture (, ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. is ...

on the nomination. On December 16, 2014, Reid withdrew his cloture motion on Pitman's nomination, and the Senate proceeded to vote to confirm Pitman by a

. He received his judicial commission on December 19, 2014.

Notable rulings

* On October 6, 2021, Pitman ordered Texas to suspend the

Texas Heartbeat Act The Texas Heartbeat Act, Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), is an Statute, act of the Texas Legislature that bans abortion after the Six-week abortion ban, detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity, which normally occurs after about six weeks of p ...

, a law which banned most

abortions Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnanci ...

, calling it an "offensive deprivation of such an important right." Two days later 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 one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: ...

reversed Pitman's suspension order, permitting the law to be enforced again. * On December 1, 2021, Pitman struck down a Texas law which attempted to censor social media platforms, in the case, NetChoice, LLC. v. Paxton. * On March 30, 2023, Pittman ordered the return of books containing

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

content to shelves after they were removed from public libraries, saying "...the First Amendment prohibits the removal of books from libraries based on either viewpoint or content discrimination" * On August 30, 2024, he enjoined a section of the

SCOPE Act HB 18 also known as Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment Act or just The SCOPE Act is an American law in Texas. The law requires internet platforms to verify the age of a parent or guardian of accounts if they are signed in as und ...

because they were preempted by

Section 230 In the United States, Section 230 is a section of the Communications Act of 1934 that was enacted as part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which is Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and generally provides immunity for on ...

and violated the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

in the case

Computer and Communications Industry Association The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) is an international non-profit advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, United States which represents the information and communications technology industries. According to their ...

et al v. Paxton. The section of the

that was blocked required the monitoring and filtering of content that promoted suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, substance abuse, stalking, bullying, or harassment, grooming, trafficking, child pornography, or other sexual exploitation or abuse. He stated it was from clear that

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

had a compelling interest in some of the categories of content

was looking to filter with the law. He also stated that the laws use of the word's promotion, grooming, harassment or substance abuse were vague and that Pro-LGBTQ content could be seen as promotion of grooming, he however would let the rest of the law take effect as their wasn't enough evidence that the rest of the law violated the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

or was preempted by federal law.

Personal life

Pitman is a sixth-generation Texan and lives in Austin. He is an avid outdoorsman and horseman. Pitman was the first openly gay United States attorney in Texas. He was one of four openly LGBT U.S. Attorneys, alongside

Jenny Durkan Jenny Anne Durkan (born May 19, 1958) is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor, and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Seattle, Washington. She is the daughter of Martin Durkan. Durkan is a member of the Democratic Party. Afte ...

of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Western District of Washington, Laura Duffy of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California, Southern District of California and Anne Tompkins of the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina. Upon receiving his judicial commission, Pitman became the first openly gay judge to sit on the federal bench within the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit of the federal court system, which covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

References

External links

* *
U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitman, Robert L. 1962 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Abilene Christian University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford American gay men Assistant United States attorneys Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas LGBTQ appointed officials in the United States LGBTQ judges American LGBTQ lawyers LGBTQ people from Texas Lawyers from Fort Worth, Texas United States attorneys for the Western District of Texas United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama United States magistrate judges University of Texas School of Law alumni