Jonathan Allen Kobes (born August 25, 1974) is a

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. ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts: * Eastern District of Arkansas * Western Dist ...

Education

Kobes received his

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 year ...

from

Dordt University Dordt University is a private evangelical Christian university in Sioux Center, Iowa. It was founded in 1955 and is affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church in North America. The university name is a reference to the Synod of Dordt (Dordr ...

and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor and the business manager of the ''

Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy The ''Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy'' is a law review for conservative and libertarian legal scholarship. It was established by Harvard Law School students Spencer Abraham and Stephen Eberhard in 1978, leading to the founding of the Fed ...

''. During law school, Kobes worked at the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

, the United States Attorney's Office for the

Northern District of Iowa The United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa (in case citations, N.D. Iowa) has jurisdiction over fifty-two of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is subject to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (except for patent claims and ...

, and the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

office of

McDermott Will & Emery McDermott Will & Emery is an international law firm with a diversified business practice. The firm is one of the largest grossing law firms in the US and globally, and its lawyers represent a wide range of commercial, industrial and financial e ...

Legal career

After graduating from law school, Kobes served as a law clerk to Judge

Roger Leland Wollman Roger Leland Wollman (born May 29, 1934) is a Senior United States Circuit Judge and former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He is the older brother of Harvey L. Wollman, former Governor of South Dakota. ...

of the

. He then worked from 2002 to 2003 a litigation attorney at the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

and from 2003 to 2005 an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota. Kobes was an associate at the

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

, office of Murphy, Goldammer & Prendergast from 2005 to 2008. Kobes was then senior counsel to

POET A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

in Sioux Falls, senior regulatory counsel to

DuPont Pioneer Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. is a U.S.-based producer of seeds for agriculture. They are a major producer of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including genetically modified crops with insect and herbicide resistance. As of 2019, Pi ...

Johnston, Iowa Johnston is a city in Polk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 24,064 in the 2020 census, an increase of 178% from the 8,649 population in 2000. It is part of the Des Moines– West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. Johnst ...

, and Director of Corporate Compliance at Raven Industries. From 2014 to 2018, Kobes worked as General Counsel to U.S. Senator

Mike Rounds Marion Michael Rounds (born October 24, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator from South Dakota since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 31st governor of South Dakota ...

. He was also a member of the Central Committee of the Lincoln County Republican Party.

Federal judicial service

On June 7, 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 P ...

announced his intent to nominate Kobes to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the

. On June 11, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. Trump nominated Kobes to the seat being vacated by Judge

, who previously announced his intention to assume

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on a date to be determined. On August 22, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

. On September 14, 2018, the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary rated Kobes "Not Qualified." The ABA's report said that Kobes was "a very accomplished, competent, and capable person, but his career path has not resulted in sufficient evidence of a developed ability to do the written work of a United States circuit court judge." The ABA report questioned Kobes' understanding of "complex legal analysis" and "knowledge of the law". At the time of his nomination, Kobes had tried six cases during his legal career, cases that the ABA considered straightforward and not "legally complex". On October 11, 2018, Kobes' nomination was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 11–10 vote. On November 29, 2018, 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 ...

voted to invoke

cloture Cloture (, also ), 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. ' ...

on Kobes' nomination by a 50–49 vote, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie. On December 11, 2018, he was confirmed by a 51–50 vote, with Pence casting his vote in the affirmative. He was the first federal judicial nominee ever confirmed by a tie-breaking vote. Kobes received his judicial commission on December 12, 2018.

Notable cases

In December 2021, Kobes upheld the 20-year prison sentence of a doctor at the

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

who misdiagnosed a patient, resulting in the patient's death.

Memberships

Kobes was a member of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (abbreviated as FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquarter ...

from 1999 to 2004.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kobes, Jonathan A. 1974 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Dordt University alumni Federalist Society members Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit People from Sioux City, Iowa People of the Central Intelligence Agency South Dakota lawyers South Dakota Republicans United States court of appeals judges appointed by Donald Trump United States Senate lawyers