--- title: "James Wesley Hendrix | KnowJudges" canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/james-wesley-hendrix" page_type: "judge_profile" updated: "2026-10-07" --- # James Wesley Hendrix U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas · Judge ## Profile - Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern 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 - Assistant U.S. attorney, Northern District of Texas, 2007-2019; chief, Appellate Division, 2012-2019 - Law clerk, Hon. Patrick E. Higginbotham, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2003-2004 - Began his career as a law clerk for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (2003–2004) and then worked as an associate at Baker Botts - James Wesley Hendrix, born in 1977 in Lubbock, Texas, serves as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, presiding over the Lubbock, Abilene, and San Angelo Divisions, which cover 47 counties ### Education - He obtained a Bachelor of Arts with honors from the University of Chicago in 2000 ### Additional information - received his commission on August 8, 2019. - First nominated to the U.S. District Court by President Barack Obama in 2016, but the nomination expired. - Private practice, Dallas, Texas, 2004-2007 - a Juris Doctor with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003, where he served on the Texas Law Review and was selected as a chancellor. - focusing on complex commercial and intellectual-property litigation. - He later held the role of an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, eventually becoming Appellate Chief and coordinating with the Department of Justice on cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. - He prosecuted high-profile cases, including Hosam Smadi’s attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in Dallas, and argued over 25 appeals in the Fifth and Seventh Circuits. - He is a member of the Fifth Circuit’s Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee and the Northern District of Texas’s Local Rules Committee, and serves as an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University School of Law. ## 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/6831671) - [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/6831671) - [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/6831671) - [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) - [Hendrix, James Wesley](https://www.fjc.gov/node/6831671) ## JSON-LD ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/james-wesley-hendrix", "url": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/james-wesley-hendrix", "name": "James Wesley Hendrix | KnowJudges", "description": "James Wesley Hendrix, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. 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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-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.