Samuel Frederick Biery Jr.

Life and career

Biery was born on November 11, 1947, in McAllen, Texas. He graduated from Texas Lutheran College in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts and from Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law in 1973 with a Juris Doctor. He served in the United States Army Reserve from 1970 to 1976, where he became an E-4. He was in private practice in San Antonio, Texas, from 1973 to 1978. He was a judge on the County Court 2 of Bexar County, Texas, from 1979 to 1982. He was a judge on the Texas 150th District Court from 1983 to 1988. He was a justice of the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals from 1989 to 1994.

Federal judicial service

On November 19, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Biery to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas created by 104 Stat. 5089. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 10, 1994, and received his commission on March 11. Biery served as chief judge from June 1, 2010, to late 2015. On April 29, 2013, his ruling in 35 Bar and Grille LLC, et. al. v. The City of San Antonio gained notoriety for its puns, sexual innuendo and double entendres. On August 20, 2025, Biery enjoined Texas from displaying the Ten Commandments in every classroom despite a state law passed in June.

In June 2022, Biery said he does not read opinions handed down from the Fifth Circuit, but he later said that was "courtroom banter". In January 2026, he blocked the immediate deportation of five-year Liam Ramos, whose seizure by immigration officers in Minnesota and rapid transport to a detention center in Texas sparked international outrage. Several days later, in a scathing opinion, he also ordered the release of the boy and his father from immigration detention.{{cite court |litigants-force-plain=

References

References

1. "U.S. District Judge Fred Biery".
2. {{FJC Bio
3. "Samuel Frederick Biery Jr.".
4. Easterman, Daniel. (May 1, 2013). "The Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Bikini opinion: Texas judge issues world's cheekiest written ruling". The Telegraph (UK).
5. https://www.houstonpress.com/news/houston-area-school-districts-win-injunction-blocking-ten-commandments-in-classrooms-21091479
6. https://www.au.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/78_Order_granting_Pl_August_20_2025.pdf {{Bare URL PDF. (November 2025)
7. Cassens Weiss, Debra. (June 14, 2022). "Texas federal judge proclaims that he doesn't read 5th Circuit opinions before second reversal".
8. (January 27, 2026). "US federal judge blocks deportation of five-year-old boy and his father".
9. (January 31, 2026). "Judge orders 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father be released from immigration detention".