James O. Browning

U.S. District Judge James O. Browning has served on the bench for the District of New Mexico since 2003.

He grew up in Hobbs and graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, where he was an intensive political science major, earning honors in his field and winning the Frank M. Patterson award for best senior essay on domestic political affairs. He also earned three varsity football letters, winning the Ivy League Championship his junior and senior years.

Judge Browning received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law,
where he was editor-in-chief of the Virginia Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.

Following law school, he was a law clerk for Collins J. Seitz, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1981-1982) and for U.S. Supreme Court Judge Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (1982-1983).

After his clerkships, he returned to New Mexico where he served as a shareholder and director at the Rodey Law Firm before starting his own in 1990. From 1987 to 1988, Judge Browning was deputy attorney general of the State of New Mexico.

He served as chairman of the New Mexico Sentencing Guidelines Commission. Judge Browning is currently a director of the Christian Scholarship Foundation. In 2003, Pepperdine University bestowed on Judge Browning an honorary Doctor of Law degree.

In 2007, Chief U.S. Supreme Court Justice John G. Roberts appointed Judge Browning to the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System. He also serves on the Judgeships Subcommittee.

In January 2009, the New Mexico Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates named Judge Browning the 2008 Outstanding Federal Jurist.