The Lifetime Appointment of Judge Jason K. Pulliam: An American Dream in 1,000 “Easy” Steps

BY RYAN V. COX

On a rainy Thursday in February of 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic would put a hold on all public events, a crowd of hundreds piled into the Lila Cockrell Theatre in downtown San Antonio for the formal investiture of newly appointed United States District Judge Jason K. Pulliam. When the new Judge took the podium, tears welled as he began to describe the long road from a working-class Brooklyn family relying on public assistance to a lifetime judicial appointment from the President of the United States.

As he addressed his mother directly, it became clear to the audience that the American Dream the Judge was describing was both unlikely, and, at the same time, a dream worth dreaming. There he stood as living proof that this dream can come true with hard work and the willingness to take risks, ask for help, and commit oneself to a lifetime of service. While these seemed like reasonable prerequisites, though, it was clear that all the steps in between made such a dream possible: the writing, the research, the personal and professional growth, the maintenance of close relationships, a reputation for honesty and fairness, and so many other steps along the way. If there were a guide to such a dream, perhaps it would describe how to put oneself in the right place, with the right skills, at the right time—not a singular goal, but a constant grind. Or, perhaps it would say, “Just follow these 1,000 ‘easy’ steps.”

Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome

As a teenager, Judge Pulliam had been a contemporary of the racially charged environment in New York City after the “Howard Beach Incident,” in which three young African-American men had been attacked by a mob screaming racial slurs. That attack resulted in the death of one of the men—and manslaughter convictions for three of the attackers. This turbulent period continued throughout the 1980s, up to the mob shooting of Yusuf Hawkins in 1989, and was squarely in the public eye as Pulliam came of age. These events informed his outlook on the fairness of the criminal justice system and the judiciary—a worldview that he would take with him through his studies, and later as a criminal defense lawyer and judge. Pulliam felt as though everyone was looking for a way to escape these clashes of race and culture, one way or another.

Judge Pulliam with his older brother, Charles Pulliam, whom he would later follow into the United States Marine Corps.

Photos courtesy of Judge Jason Pulliam

Judge Pulliam at kindergarten graduation in Brooklyn, 1977.

Photo courtesy of Judge Jason Pulliam

Judge Pulliam in uniform for James Madison High School in Brooklyn, where he played tight end and outside linebacker, 1988.

Photo courtesy of Judge Jason Pulliam

Judge Pulliam’s official court portrait, taken after his swearing-in in the fall of 2019.

Photo courtesy of Judge Jason Pulliam

One of the most important of these relationships was with a retired Marine Corps Major, who encouraged Pulliam to consider combining his early interest in military service with his new training and education and recruited him to become a Judge Advocate in the Marine Corps.

After graduating high school early in January 1989, Pulliam had wanted to follow his older brother into the Marine Corps right away. This seemed like an opportunity for immediate leadership, stable income, travel, and the not-otherwise-guaranteed chance to get out of Brooklyn. Besides, the uniforms were sharp. Pulliam was only 17, though, so he needed parental permission to enlist in the Marines, and his mother was determined that he should go to college instead. As usual, Mom got her way, and the young Pulliam enrolled at Brooklyn College, where he would spend the next six years earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science. He excelled in these studies, giving him the opportunity to serve as a graduate intern in the New York State Legislature, where he began to learn the benefits and opportunities available if he continued on to law school. The following year, he was accepted to the law school at Texas Southern University, the Houston HBCU that had trained thousands of successful African-American lawyers across the country. Pulliam would go on to join its law review, graduate near the top of his class, and develop a number of impactful relationships that would shape his career for years to come.

One of the most important of these relationships was with a retired Marine Corps Major, who encouraged encouraged Pulliam to consider combining his early interest in military service with his new training and education and recruited him to become a Judge Advocate in the Marine Corps. While still excelling in his studies, Pulliam took the opportunity to attend Officer Candidate School after his second year, eventually accepting his commission as an officer following his law school graduation in 2000.

After finishing Naval Justice School (the program in which new Judge Advocates are trained in military law), Pulliam had his first post assignment at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina—home to a major Naval Hospital and a primary facility for Marine Corps amphibious assault training. Camp Lejeune also happened to be one of the busiest legal offices in all of the Department of Defense. Pulliam served as criminal defense counsel for Marines facing court martial, amassing significant in-court experience that he would later draw upon in private practice and on the bench. Soon, Pulliam began to excel as a criminal defense attorney, and in 2002, he was awarded the DECOY award—aptly presented in the form of a carved wooden duck—recognizing him as “Defense Counsel of the Year,” a prestigious award given to just one Judge Advocate in each of the Marine Corps’ two regions.

When it came time to leave the Marine Corps, Pulliam had to decide where to pursue his legal career. His friend Mark Cooper, a former colleague in the Camp Lejeune office of defense counsel, had moved to San Antonio to join long-time litigation powerhouse Ball & Weed (later leaving with several others to join Naman Howell). Cooper impressed upon Pulliam the collegiality of the San Antonio Bar and the significant opportunities for former military lawyers in “Military City, USA.” Paired with his Bar Admission in Texas from having attended Texas Southern University, it made sense to consider Texas over his native New York or other opportunities he had considered around the country. So when he connected with Craig Carlson, another former military lawyer and managing partner of the Carlson Law Firm—who was looking to expand his Texas offices—Pulliam found an opportunity and a mentor. He would come back to Texas, initially to practice criminal defense and plaintiff-side personal injury litigation.

Opportunity begets opportunity, though, and Pulliam would soon join his former colleague at Ball & Weed before leaving to join Bill Ford’s new firm (then Ford & Massey, P.C.), which was emerging as a major force in San Antonio in the late 2000s. In Ford, Pulliam gained another friend and mentor who would be instrumental in his professional growth. Ford encouraged Pulliam to pursue his continued interest in public service and supported Pulliam’s run for Judge of the Bexar County Court at Law No. 5 in 2010, a race Pulliam won by a tight 3% margin.

Semper Fidelis

After taking the County Court bench in 2011, Pulliam would preside over some 100 criminal and civil trials over the next five years. As a former criminal defense attorney, and from his background in Brooklyn, Pulliam understood, more than most, the circumstances to which many of the people in his court were subject. He prioritized diversion programs and education over severe punishments for nonviolent offenders, and he recognized the role that race and class played in determining who was in his court and why. He deprioritized punishments that would likely set defendants up for failure, such as long community service sentences that resulted in little or no effect on recidivism but, nevertheless, took defendants away from jobs and educational pursuits that would better allow them to grow and meet their family needs. He had witnessed first-hand how education could uplift members of his community through opportunity and personal pride, so there seemed little reason to force defendants to perform tedious community service when they could instead be excused by completing a GED.

In 2014, Pulliam was reelected with a wider margin of victory than in his first race, and he continued to serve on the County Court until 2015, when he was appointed to a vacancy on the Fourth Court of Appeals. In his time at the Fourth Court, he authored more than 200 written opinions for the large, thirty-twocounty district served by the court. When his bid to hold that seat in the larger court-ofappeals district missed by a few percentage points, Pulliam was immediately primed for a resurgence of his trial practice. He joined Prichard Young, LLP and worked under the astute tutelage of David M. Prichard and Kevin Young. Governor Abbott also appointed Pulliam to the Public Safety Commission, which oversees the Texas Department of Public Safety and its 10,000+ employees.

Photograph by Mewborne Photography

Hurry Up and Wait

Nearly immediately after Pulliam was back in private practice in 2017, interest in Washington about his possible service on the federal bench began to grow. San Antonio had held a vacancy on the United States District Court bench for nearly a decade, and Senate and White House leadership were determined to fill every possible vacancy they could, as quickly as possible.

Pulliam soon became aware that the road to appointment through the “pre-appointment” process is difficult. A candidate must complete all appointment requirements up front, with no guarantee that anything will ever come of those efforts, and then engage in a waiting game, as his or her information is collected by the FBI, the Office of Chief Policy Council, individual Senators, and other interested governmental apparatus. A candidate must provide lists of names, and the FBI visits everyone on the lists, discussing anything and everything with former colleagues, ex-spouses, neighbors, professors, and anyone they think might have information. The process tries to prevent any surprises, even as to someone like Pulliam, who had previously spent six years on the bench in San Antonio. Also, in the 21st Century, the pre-appointment process includes a blistering search of internet history, communications, public posts and comments, friends and relationships, and more—something perhaps many young lawyers have not fully considered.

For Pulliam, like many before him, this was a grueling process, characterized by long periods with no communication or feedback from the investigators. By early 2019, though, the gears had begun to turn with more transparency, and he was invited to meet with Senators and others. His early education and interest in political theorists like John Locke—and his later research on the philosophy of judging through books like Reading Law by Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner—offered particularly good preparation for these interview-like conversations and, eventually, for Senate hearings. After more than two years of silent waiting and consideration, his hearing was called in the summer of 2019. Partisan divisions seemed apparent, but he was passed through committee and was ultimately confirmed by a vote of 54-36 in the full Senate on July 31, 2019.

Photograph by Mewborne Photography

Pulliam’s mother attended the Senate hearings, and maybe for the first time throughout the years-long process, she understood the magnitude of her son’s achievement as he was questioned by Senators at the Capitol. Judge Pulliam would be the first African-American judge in the long history of the Western District of Texas, which stretches from Waco to Del Rio, and El Paso to Austin, and he would finally bring the San Antonio Division of the court back to full operating capacity. The significance of his historic racebarrier-breaking appointment is not lost on the Judge, even if it was not a factor in his appointment. As both a defense lawyer and a judge, he had seen the importance of having a diverse bench, where defendants can see themselves represented and feel as though they truly received a fair shot. Experience had shown him that having a diverse bench can positively affect community trust in the legal system, especially for citizens of color.

A FUBAR Freshman Year

At his investiture ceremony in February 2020, no one could have known what the rest of Judge Pulliam’s first year on the federal bench would become. Within just a few weeks, Chief Judge Orlando Garcia would issue emergency orders closing the courthouse to lawyers and staff, and implementing a plan for remote proceedings. But, unlike the grinding halt experienced by state courts, the federal court was already relatively well-situated for these changes, with practice at the court being so heavily based upon written briefs and the remote-friendly CM/ECF filing system.

While some standard operating procedures were upset by the emergency orders, Judge Pulliam was mostly able to navigate the difficult year “full-speed ahead,” with assistance from the CARES Act, which allowed criminal plea and sentencing hearings to be conducted remotely, and also permitted remote hearings for civil matters at the court’s discretion. The changes in the standard operating procedures did highlight some differences between being a federal district court judge and serving on the County Court bench, however. For instance, Judge Pulliam has seen fewer filings and experienced a much slower pace than he experienced at the Bexar County Courthouse—all to be expected, but amplified by the pandemic.

In a difficult year, some lessons have made themselves known as the court was forced to implement new technologies and procedures. One new procedure, in particular, is the use of remote proceedings in civil cases, saving parties, counsel, and the courts significant time and resources. While Judge Pulliam has been known to prefer more frequent hearings than some of his colleagues (allowing him to meet the lawyers and discuss the issues in a way that simply cannot be done by written brief), the implementation of remote video proceedings has been effective and will likely continue long after the pandemic has ended. Whatever happens in the future, Judge Pulliam is well equipped to adapt to any such changes, as evidenced by his lifelong history of successfully doing so in the past.

Cover and article photography by Mewborne Photography

Ryan V. Cox is a Senior Attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project in San Antonio.