Jacques Loeb Wiener Jr. (born October 2, 1934) is a Senior United States Federal Judge of the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

Education and career

Wiener graduated from

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

with 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 in 1956. After serving as an officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, he attended

Tulane University Law School The Tulane University School of Law is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1847, it is the 12th oldest law school in the United States. Campus The law schoo ...

, where he was editor in chief of the law review. Wiener received his

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 ...

in 1961, graduating first in his class. He then entered private practice in Shreveport, specializing in estates, trusts, and taxation.

Federal judicial service

Wiener was nominated by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

on November 17, 1989, to a seat on 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 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: ...

that had been vacated by Judge

Robert Madden Hill Robert Madden Hill (January 13, 1928 – October 19, 1987) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern Distri ...

. He was confirmed by the United States Senate, members of the

101st United States Congress The 101st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, ...

, on March 9, 1990, and received commission on March 12, 1990. He assumed senior status on September 30, 2010.

Notable cases

On August 9, 2019, Wiener joined an opinion written by James L. Dennis that held the

Indian Child Welfare Act The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA, enacted November 8, 1978 and codified at Indian Child Welfare Act, (, )) is a United States Code, United States federal law that governs jurisdiction over the removal of Native Americans in the United ...

(ICWA) is constitutional. This ruling was affirmed in part and reversed in part when the 5th circuit went en banc. Wiener was part of the en banc panel and dissented from the parts that struck down portions of the ICWA. On December 21, 2020, and again on September 9, 2021 (en banc), Wiener dissented when the 5th Circuit ruled that an oil company supervisor already making $200,000 a year was entitled to overtime pay. Wiener stated "Frankly, I cannot fathom how a majority of the active judges of this court can vote to require Helix to pay overtime to Hewitt, the supervisor of 12 to 13 hourly, hands-on workers, when he was already paid more than twice the cap of $100,000 per annum for overtime eligibility. And, if that is not incomprehensible enough, keep in mind that Hewitt worked for Helix no more than half of the days during the calendar years at issue!" Wiener's dissent in the en banc case was joined by four other judges. The Supreme Court affirmed the majority's decision by a vote of 6–3 in '' Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt''. In October 2023, Wiener refused to lift a consent decree that ensured Louisiana's compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. On August 29, 2024, Wiener dissented from the 5th circuit's ''en banc'' ruling lifting the consent decree. Wiener wrote that Louisiana had not provided evidence of compliance with the decree and pointed out that Louisiana had refused to commit to keeping a

majority-minority district A majority-minority district is an electoral district, such as a United States congressional district, in which the majority of the constituents in the district are racial or ethnic minorities (as opposed to Non-Hispanic whites in the U.S.). ...

after the decree's dissolution.

References

External links

* 1934 births C. E. Byrd High School alumni Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Living people People from Shreveport, Louisiana Tulane University Law School alumni United States court of appeals judges appointed by George H. W. Bush United States Navy officers {{US-federal-judge-stub