James Robertson Nowlin (born November 21, 1937) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and a former state legislator.
James Robertson Nowlin
Chief Judge — U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
Born 1937 in San Antonio, TX
FJC ID: 1787
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 3/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 9/year
Texas Western District Court · 1981–2003
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Private practice, San Antonio, Texas1963–1965, 1966–1981
- TexasState representative · 1967–1971, 1973–1981
JAG CorpsU.S. Army Reserve · 1960–1968- U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Public WelfareLegal counsel · 1965–1966
- U.S. Army captain1959–1960
Appointments
1981–2003 · Appointed by Ronald Reagan (Republican)
Education
J.D. · 1963- Trinity University, San Antonio, TexasM.A. · 1962
- Trinity University, San Antonio, TexasB.A. · 1959