Fernando Rodriguez, Jr.
How Judge Rodriguez decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He decides 8 U.S.C. 1503(a) border-citizenship claims (a staple of the Brownsville docket) on a rigorous, evidence-by-evidence basis, and the result turns on documentary corroboration: a contemporaneous midwife birth-record book + same-month city filing can carry a U.S.-birth claim past a later foreign birth certificate (Medina Trejo, granted after trial), while a failed legitimation element defeats a derivative-citizenship claim regardless of a fact dispute on physical presence (Hinojosa, government SJ granted).
“while their conduct is not admirable, they provided plausible explanations for their actions ... The Court finds these explanations credible, rendering the Mexican birth certificate of little evidentiary weight.”
On novel statutes he works from text and ordinary meaning, and he is careful to keep the prima-facie inquiry separate from an affirmative defense the movant did not raise -- in the NDAA whistleblower context, a reassignment with a future pay cut is a 'demotion'/adverse action for the prima facie case, and the employer's legitimate-reason evidence belongs to the separate Carr-factor stage.
“whether BISD possessed non-discriminatory reasons for the reassignment proves irrelevant ... the only reasonable construction of BISD's Motion is that BISD disputes that Tolman has demonstrated a prima facie case.”
Procedural preferences
He uses magistrate judges heavily in the Brownsville Division and adopts their Reports & Recommendations by the book: a party must lodge SPECIFIC objections to get de novo review; a general objection that merely repeats the underlying briefing draws only plain-error review (though he often notes he would reach the same result de novo).
“Flores's filing presents, at best, a general objection. Flores fails to object to any specific portion of the Report and Recommendation, and largely repeats the substance of her responses ... The Court finds no plain error in the Report and Recommendation.”
He runs a scheduled, conference-driven civil docket: an initial pretrial/scheduling conference and a written scheduling order (with discovery and dispositive-motion deadlines) are set early, and he extends deadlines by formal amended scheduling orders rather than informally.
“SCHEDULING ORDER. ... Discovery due by 5/29/2019. Dispositive Motion Filing due by 6/12/2019. ... (Signed by Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr)”
Cautions
A party opposing summary judgment by asking for more discovery must show specifically how that discovery would defeat the motion; a pro se plaintiff's hope that depositions or video footage will surface unspecified evidence is an 'unwarranted fishing expedition' that will not stop summary judgment.
“This request amounts to an unwarranted fishing expedition. ... a video of Bustinza waiving a 'grievance' at a camera would not be evidence of his having filed any grievances, much less evidence that either defendant acted in retaliation”
A party relying on foreign law bears the burden of proving the applicable foreign law for the relevant time period; citing a later-era foreign code without showing it governed at the relevant time gets that argument disregarded.
“a plaintiff relying on foreign law bears the burden of providing the court with the applicable foreign law. ... At most, Plaintiff cites to the Civil Code of Tamaulipas 'in effect in 1976,' with no indication that this law governed ten years earlier”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Although Plaintiff has shown there is an issue of material fact as to the applicable physical presence requirement, he fails to do so as to the legitimation requirement. For the reasons in this Memorandum Opinion, Defendants are entitled to summary judgment.”
“On May 4, 2026, the Court granted summary judgment in BISD's favor as to Tolman's claim under the Equal Pay Act, as well as to the bulk of her cause of action based on the NDAA, other than such a claim based on Tolman's reassignment.”
“ORDERED that Defendants San Benito Police Department Officers' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 92) is GRANTED; ORDERED that Defendant Michael Galvan's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 97) is GRANTED; ORDERED that Defendant Jose A. Villareal's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 98) is GRANTED”
“ORDERED that Defendant Sgt. Delgado and Defendant C.O. Rodriguez's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings & in the Alternative Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 175) is GRANTED as indicated in this Order and the adopted Report and Recommendation”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff Lily F. Tercero's Motion to Amend or Alter Final Judgment in Order to Award Prejudgment Interest (Doc. 134) is GRANTED.”
This is a non-motion disposition: a post-two-day-bench-trial Order and Opinion on an 8 U.S.C. 1503(a) declaratory-judgment citizenship claim. The court GRANTED the citizenship declaration (and denied attorney's fees, finding the government's position substantially justified), holding the plaintiff proved by a preponderance that she was born in Brownsville at a midwife's home clinic. The order states: 'Plaintiff Alyn Guadalupe Medina Trejo was born on September 7, 1997, in Brownsville, Texas, rendering her a natural born citizen of the United States of America.' A useful companion to Hinojosa: it shows how Rodriguez weighs midwife birth-record books, contemporaneous city filings, and a later Mexican birth certificate (afforded little weight) in 1503(a) cases.
“ORDERED that the Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 5) is GRANTED; and ORDERED that any claims made against Defendants are dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”
“ORDERED that the government's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 11) is GRANTED; and ORDERED that Petitioner Jose Manuel Portillo-Guerrero's Motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence by a Person in Federal Custody is DISMISSED as untimely filed, or alternatively, DENIED as unsupported by the record.”
“the Court DENIES the request for a Certificate of Appealability.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff Jorge Luis Gonzalez's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 15) is GRANTED;”
“ORDERED that Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 16) is DENIED; and”
“ORDERED that Respondent Lorie Davis's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 114) is GRANTED; and ORDERED that Petitioner Randall Bolivar's Amended Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. 108) is DENIED.”
“the Court DENIES the request for a Certificate of Appealability.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiff Ruben Guzman's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 19) is GRANTED as to the Administrative Law Judge's conclusion that Guzman's intellectual and mental limitations were not severe;”
“ORDERED that Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 20) is DENIED; and”
“ORDERED that Defendants Axis Renewable Group, Inc. and Campo Lujano Axis Grupo, Inc.'s Motion for Summary Judgment Under the Exclusive Remedy Doctrine (Doc. 68) is GRANTED; and ORDERED that Plaintiff Joshua Parks's causes of action against Defendants Axis Renewable Group, Inc. and Campo Lujano Axis Grupo, Inc. are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 1540 days (N = 1).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 129 days (N = 1).
Active Brownsville-division judge. His current (2026) civil assignments are overwhelmingly the 2026 alien-detainee 28 U.S.C. 2241 habeas surge (nature of suit '463 Habeas Corpus - Alien Detainee'), filed against the wardens of the Port Isabel / El Valle detention facilities and DHS/ICE officials (e.g. Atim v. Warden Port Isabel 1:26-cv-00623, Molina Rivas v. Warden El Valle 1:26-cv-00588) -- nearly all pending. He also carries a heavy Brownsville border criminal docket (illegal-reentry, drug, firearms) and a distinctive vein of immigration/citizenship civil work: 8 U.S.C. 1503(a) declaratory-citizenship suits (Hinojosa, Medina Trejo), F-1/SEVIS student-status APA challenges (Villar Castellanos), and the high-profile Alien Enemies Act litigation (J.A.V. v. Trump). Other sampled terminated civil matters: maritime limitation-of-liability (In re Signet Maritime 1:18-cv-00035), Section 1983 excessive-force/wrongful-death (Flores), prisoner civil rights (Bustinza), employment whistleblower/Equal Pay Act (Tolman), and breach-of-contract (Tercero v. Texas Southmost College).
Put Judge Rodriguez's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Rodriguez actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Rodriguez's own signed orders and cites them.