Samuel Frederick Biery Jr. (born November 11, 1947) is 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 ...

Education and career

Biery was born in

McAllen, Texas McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Hidalgo County. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, acros ...

. He received a

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 ...

degree from

Texas Lutheran College Texas Lutheran University (TLU) is a private Evangelical Lutheran university in Seguin, Texas. History The university traces its roots back to 1891 with the foundation of an academy, named Evangelical Lutheran College, by the first German Eva ...

in 1970 and 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

Dedman School of Law SMU Dedman School of Law, commonly referred to as SMU Law School or Dedman School of Law, is a law school located in Dallas, Texas. Jason P. Nance serves as its current dean. Founded in February 1925, the school located is on the Southern Meth ...

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

in 1973. He served in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...

from 1970 to 1976 where he became an E4. He was in private practice in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

from 1973 to 1978. He was a judge on the County Court at law number two in

Bexar County, Texas Bexar County ( or ; ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324, making it the st ...

from 1979 to 1982. He was a judge on the state 150th District Court from 1983 to 1988. He was a justice of the state Fourth Court of Appeals from 1989 to 1994.

Federal judicial service

On November 19, 1993, Biery was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

to a new seat on the

created by 104 Stat. 5089. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on March 10, 1994, and received his commission on March 11, 1994. Biery was elevated to chief judge on June 1, 2010, his term as chief judge ended in late 2015. On April 29, 2013, his ruling on '' 35 Bar and Grille LLC, et. al. v. The City of San Antonio'' reached press notoriety for its use of

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

s, sexual

innuendo An innuendo is a wikt:hint, hint, wikt:insinuation, insinuation or wikt:intimation, intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called in ...

and

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

s. In June 2022, Biery claimed that he does not read opinions handed down from 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: * ...

, only to later claim his remarks were "courtroom banter".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Biery, Samuel Frederick Jr. 1947 births Living people Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas People from McAllen, Texas Military personnel from Texas Texas Lutheran University alumni United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton United States Army soldiers United States Army reservists Dedman School of Law alumni 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges Lawyers from San Antonio