--- title: "Charles R. Eskridge III | KnowJudges" canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/charles-r-eskridge-iii" page_type: "judge_profile" updated: "2026-10-09" --- # Charles R. Eskridge III U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas · Judge ## Profile - Court: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas - State: Texas - Role: Judge - Service status: active - Last verified: 2026-07-25 ## Summary Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge. ## Biography ### Professional career - Adjunct professor of law, University of Houston Law Center, 2006-2018 - Law clerk, Hon. Byron R. White, Supreme Court of the United States, 1991-1992 - Law clerk, Hon. Charles Clark, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1990-1991 - Judge, District Court, S.D. Texas, ?-present - focusing on complex commercial litigation, including over two decades at Susman Godfrey and later as a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP Eskridge has also contributed to legal education as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center, teaching the origins of the federal constitution, and has held the role of a Distinguished Visiting Practitioner at Pepperdine University School of Law. ### Education - Pepperdine University School of Law (now Rick J. Caruso School of Law) — J.D. (1990) - Trinity University — B.S. (1985) - Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, from Trinity University ### Additional information - He has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2013 On May 3, 2019, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Eskridge to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, filling the seat vacated by Judge Gray H. Miller. - Private practice, Houston, Texas, 1994-2019 - Distinguished visiting practitioner of law, Pepperdine University School of Law, 2011 - Special assistant, Hon. Howard M. Holtzmann, Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, The Hague, 1992-1994 - Judge Charles Robert Eskridge III was born on April 23, 1963, in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Houston, Texas, at age 11 with his family in 1974. - Date of birth: 1963-04-23 - a Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from Pepperdine University School of Law, where he held the role of an editor of the Pepperdine Law Review After law school, Eskridge clerked for Chief Judge Charles Clark of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Byron White of the U.S. Supreme Court, and also served as a special assistant to Judge Howard Holtzmann at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague. - Birth place: Cleveland ## Before you appear - Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed. - Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance. - Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding. ## Courtroom Rules ### civil remote testimony Scope: courtwide In federal district-court civil proceedings, testimony is ordinarily taken in open court; remote contemporaneous testimony requires good cause in compelling circumstances and appropriate safeguards. Evidence excerpt: For good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards, the court may permit testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location. [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ### criminal recording and broadcasting Scope: courtwide Federal district courts may not permit courtroom photography or broadcasting during criminal judicial proceedings unless a statute or another federal rule provides an exception. Evidence excerpt: Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom. [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ## Sources - [Official profile](https://www.fjc.gov/node/7223866) - [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/7223866) - [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/7223866) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/14443/charles-r-eskridge-iii/) - [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) - [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/14443/charles-r-eskridge-iii/) - [Judge Charles R. Eskridge III](https://www.fjc.gov/node/7223866) - [Wikidata: Charles R. Eskridge III](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q63456194) ## JSON-LD ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/charles-r-eskridge-iii", "url": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/charles-r-eskridge-iii", "name": "Charles R. Eskridge III | KnowJudges", "description": "Charles R. Eskridge III, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Source-linked judicial identity, courtroom procedures, and presentation guidance.", "dateModified": "2026-10-09", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/charles-r-eskridge-iii#judge" } }, { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/charles-r-eskridge-iii#judge", "name": "Charles R. 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[Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-civil-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27. - [Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, December 1, 2025](https://knowjudges.com/courtroom-rules/national-shared-set-8721a344fececced2257fe1d) — Criminal proceedings in United States District Courts; this conservative mapping does not distribute appellate-specific provisions to appellate judges. Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-criminal-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27.