Edward Charles Prado (born June 7, 1947) is an American diplomat who is a former

United States ambassador to Argentina The United States ambassador to Argentina is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Argentina. Argentina had declared its independence from Spain in 1816 and there followed a series of revolution ...

from 2018 to 2021. He is a former

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

of 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 ...

Background

Prado was born in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

on June 7, 1947. He received an

Associate of Arts An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

degree from

San Antonio College San Antonio College (SAC) is a public community college in San Antonio, Texas. It is part of the Alamo Colleges District and the oldest public two-year college in Texas. The college has an average semester enrollment of 22,028 credit students an ...

in 1967. He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in May 1969 and received 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 law ...

in 1972 from

University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the law school of the University of Texas at Austin. Texas Law is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the United States and is highly selective—registering the 8th lowest ac ...

. Prado served as an assistant district attorney in the Bexar County District Attorney's office. Thereafter, in 1976 he served in the Federal Public Defender's office in the Western District of Texas as an assistant public defender. In 1980, Prado was appointed to serve as a Texas state district judge in

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Bra ...

. In 1981, President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

appointed Prado to serve as the

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 c ...

for the Western District of Texas. He continued to serve as the US attorney until he became a federal judge.

Federal judicial service

President

nominated Prado to 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 juri ...

to a seat vacated by Judge C. Frederick Shannon, Jr.. He was confirmed by the Senate on March 30, 1984 and received his commission on the same day. He remained on that court until he was elevated to the court of appeals on May 13, 2003. Prado was nominated on February 6, 2003 by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

to fill a vacancy on the Fifth Circuit created by Judge

Robert Manley Parker Robert Manley Parker (October 19, 1937 – August 27, 2020) was a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Early life and education Born in Longview, Texas, Longview, ...

, who retired on November 1, 2002. 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 pow ...

on May 1, 2003, just under three months after his nomination. Prado received his commission on May 5, 2003. He retired from the Fifth Circuit on April 2, 2018, prior to taking office as U.S. ambassador to Argentina.

Community involvement

Prado has been a leader in numerous

bar association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separ ...

s and law-related organizations. He has been a member of the Texas and San Antonio Bar Associations since 1972, including service as a President, and later Director and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the San Antonio Bar Foundation. Prado serves on the Texas State Bar Crime Victims Committee, and was appointed by

Chief Justice Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an Associate justice of the Supreme Court of ...

to serve as the Chairman of the Criminal Justice Act Review Committee, from 1991 to 1993. Prado also has been actively involved in community and charitable affairs as a member in community organizations such as: St. Mark's Catholic Church, the Witte Museum Community Advisory Committee, the Philosophical Society of Texas, the Rotary Club of San Antonio and Leadership San Antonio. Prado has reached out to children in the San Antonio community by conducting events in his courtroom as an introduction to the law. He has received many honors and awards, including the following:

St. Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord H ...

Award,

St. Mary's University School of Law St. Mary's University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of St. Mary's University, a private Catholic university located in San Antonio, Texas. Academics The School of Law has an enrollment of about 770 students, pursu ...

(2000); Outstanding Alumnus, San Antonio College (1989); LULAC State Award for Excellence (1981); Edgewood I.S.D. Hall of Fame (1981); Achievement Award, U.S. Attorney General (1980); Outstanding Young Lawyer of San Antonio (1980); and Outstanding Federal Public Defender, Western District of Texas (1978).

United States ambassador to Argentina

On January 17, 2018, President

Donald 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 Prado to be the next

United States Ambassador to Argentina The United States ambassador to Argentina is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Argentina. Argentina had declared its independence from Spain in 1816 and there followed a series of revolution ...

. His nomination was sent to the Senate on January 19, 2018. On March 7, 2018, Prado testified before the

United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid pr ...

. On March 20, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee. His nomination was confirmed by voice vote on March 22, 2018. On May 8, 2018, Prado arrived in Argentina, and presented his credentials to the

President of Argentina The president of Argentina ( es, Presidente de Argentina), officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation ( es, Presidente de la Nación Argentina), is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Ar ...

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previou ...

, allowing him to perform his duties as the 56th U.S. Ambassador to Argentina. He left office on January 20, 2021.

References

External links