Diana S. Saldaña (born April 30, 1971) 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 Southern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (in case citations, S.D. Tex.) is the federal district court with jurisdiction over the southeastern part of Texas. The court's headquarters is in Houston, Houston, Texas, and ...

and a former

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.

Biography

Saldaña was born in

Carrizo Springs, Texas Carrizo Springs is the largest city in and the county seat of Dimmit County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,892 at the 2020 census, down from 5,368 at the 2010 census. The name of the town is derived from the local springs, which w ...

to Blanca Hernandez Rodriguez, a single mother. Beginning at the age of 10 and continuing through law school, Saldaña spent summers with her family as a

seasonal A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

farmworker A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including har ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. Saldaña received two

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 ...

degrees from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, the first in history in 1993 and the second in government in 1994. She then attended 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 ...

, where she was president of the Chicano/Hispanic Law Students Association. Saldaña earned her

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 in 1997. After graduating law school, Saldaña served as

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 George P. Kazen of the

Federal judicial service

In 2006, Saldaña was selected to serve as a

for the

. She was sworn in on March 27, 2006. During the

111th United States Congress The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with t ...

, Democrats from the Texas House delegation and 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 ...

agreed to recommend Saldaña for a Laredo vacancy on the Southern District of Texas. On July 14, 2010, 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 ...

nominated Saldaña to replace George P. Kazen, for whom she previously clerked. On February 7, 2011, her nomination was confirmed by the Senate by a 94–0 vote. She received her commission on February 9, 2011.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saldana, Diana 1971 births Living people 21st-century American women judges Assistant United States attorneys Hispanic and Latino American judges Hispanic and Latino American lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas People from Carrizo Springs, Texas United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama United States magistrate judges University of Texas School of Law alumni

Biography

Federal judicial service

See also

References

External links