Orlando Luis Garcia

Born in Jim Wells County, Texas, Garcia received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law in 1978. He was in private practice in San Antonio, Texas from 1978 to 1990, and a Texas state representative from 1983 to 1991. From 1991 to 1992 he was a judge of the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals.

He was nominated by President Bill Clinton on November 19, 1993, to a seat which had been vacated by Emilio M. Garza over two years before. Garcia was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 10, 1994, and received his commission on March 11, 1994. He became Chief Judge on January 1, 2016.

On February 26, 2014, in San Antonio, Garcia overturned the Texas ban on same-sex marriage, ruling that the prohibition is unconstitutional and stigmatizes the relationship of gay couples in the conservative state. He stayed his ruling pending appeal.[1]

In August 2017, Garcia granted a preliminary injunction against Texas Senate Bill 4, which imposed prohibitions against certain local policies relating to immigration.[2] That injunction was reversed in part by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in May 2018.[3]

• Orlando Luis Garcia at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.