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Marina Garcia Marmolejo
Marina Garcia Marmolejo (born 1971) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Early life and educationGarcia Marmolejo was born in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico and is a naturalized United States citizen.[1][2] She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Incarnate Word in 1992.[3] In 1993, Garcia Marmolejo served as a substitute teacher in the United Independent School District in Laredo, Texas. From 1993 to 1996, she worked as a research assistant to Professor Raul M. Sanchez at St. Mary's University School of Law, where she also worked as a Property tutor and a student attorney at the Criminal Justice Clinic.[1][4] She then attended St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, where she earned a Master of Arts degree and her Juris Doctor, both in 1996.[3] In 2020, Garcia Marmolejo earned her Master of Laws in Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law.[5] Her LL.M. thesis, Jack of All Trades, Masters of None: Giving Jurors the Tools They Need to Reach the Right Verdict, was selected for publication in the George Mason Law Review.[6] CareerBefore becoming a federal judge, Garcia Marmolejo began her legal career as an Assistant Federal Public Defender. From 1996 to 1998, served as a federal defender in the Western District of Texas, and from 1998 to 1999, she served as a federal defender in the Southern District of Texas.[7] She earned the highest performance evaluation each year. In 1999, she served as an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of Texas.[7] For her prosecutorial work, Garcia Marmolejo received awards from the Department of Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[7] As a federal public defender and federal prosecutor, Garcia Marmolejo tried over 30 cases to verdict.[8] In 2007, she moved into private practice and helped open the San Antonio office of Thompson & Knight, where she served as Of Counsel. In 2009, Marmolejo was hired to be a partner with the law firm of Reid Collins Tsai LLP in their Austin office.[9][4] Federal judicial serviceDuring the 111th Congress, Democrats from the Texas House delegation and Republican U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison agreed to recommend Marmolejo for a Laredo vacancy on the Southern District of Texas.[9][10] On July 28, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Marmolejo to replace Samuel B. Kent.[11] The Senate confirmed Marmolejo by unanimous consent on October 3, 2011,[12] and she received her judicial commission on October 4, 2011.[4] Since taking the bench, Garcia Marmolejo has heard over 12,000 cases, presided over nearly 100 trials, and maintained a reversal rate of less than 1%.[13] Notably, Garcia Marmolejo is credited with being the first jurist to conclude that after the First Step Act of 2018, a judge has the discretion to look beyond the U.S. Sentencing Commission's policy statements to determine what constitutes an "extraordinary and compelling" circumstance to justify compassionate release.[14] According to the legal database Westlaw, more than 450 cases have cited her opinion on this issue.[15] In 2022, she became a Jurist in Residence at her alma mater, St. Mary's University School of Law.[16] She also founded St. Mary's clerkship mentorship program.[17] Consideration for Fifth CircuitMarmolejo had been considered a candidate for a vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, along with District Judge Xavier Rodriguez.[18] See alsoReferences
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