2012 Speaker

About Our 2012 Red Mass Speaker

Chief United States District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater

Judge Fitzwater was appointed by President Reagan in 1986 as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas. At the time of his appointment at age 32 he was the youngest federal judge in the United States. He became Chief Judge of the Northern District of Texas in 2007.

Judge Fitzwater currently serves by appointment of the Chief Justice of the United States as Chair of the Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States. He served from 2000 to 2007 by appointment of the Chief Justice on the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States. 

Judge Fitzwater has been a member of the District Judges Association of the Fifth Circuit since 1986, serving as President (2006-08), President-Elect (2004-06), Vice President (2002-04), and Secretary-Treasurer (2000-02). He is also a member of the State Bar of Texas, Texas Bar Foundation (Life Fellow), Dallas Bar Association, Federal Judges Association, and The American Law Institute. He was a member of the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council from 2002 to 2007. 

He became a Master of the Patrick E. Higginbotham American Inn of Court in 2008, and he was previously a Master of the W. M. “Mac” Taylor, Jr. American Inn of Court Master from 1990 to 1996.

Before his appointment to the federal bench, he served from 1982 to 1986 as judge of the 298th Judicial District Court of Dallas County, Texas. He practiced law with Vinson & Elkins,Houston, Texas from 1976 to 1978, and with Rain Harrell Emery Young & Doke, Dallas, Texas, from 1978 to 1982.

Judge Fitzwater is a 1976 graduate of Baylor Law School, where he was an Associate Editor of the Baylor Law Review and a member of the academic honor society and National Order of Barristers. He was chosen as the outstanding advocate in the 1976 state moot court competition and was a member of the champion team. He was a member of the champion teams in the Baylor Law School moot court and mock trial competitions. He is a 1975 graduate of Baylor University, where he received the Most Valuable Debater Award.

In 2007 the Baylor University Alumni Association presented him the Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award. In 1985 it presented him the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. In 1983 Baylor University presented him the Young Graduates Award of Merit. The Fort Worth Independent School District, from which Judge Fitzwater graduated in 1971, presented him its Outstanding Alumni Award in 1986. 

Judge Fitzwater has been married since 1976 to Nancy W. Fitzwater. They have three sons, John W. Fitzwater, M.D., Joseph L. Fitzwater, M.D., and James S. Fitzwater, two daughters-in-law and three granddaughters.

History of Diocese of Lubbock Red Mass Speakers

2001    Emilio M. Garza, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

2002    Wallace B. Jefferson, Justice (now Chief Justice), Texas Supreme Court

2003    Anne M Burke, Justice, Illinois Appellate Court (now an Illinois Supreme Court Justice)

2004    Alma L. Lopez, Chief Justice, Fourth Court of Appeals

2005    Walter Huffman, Dean, Texas Tech University School of Law

2006    Jay C. Zainey, Judge, U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana

2008    George P. Kazen, Judge, U. S. District Court, Southern District of Texas

2010    Ann Crawford McClure, Justice, Eighth Court of Appeals

2011    Ronald J. Rychlak, Professor of Law, University of Mississippi School of Law