Marco A. Hernandez

Marco Antonio Hernandez (born 1957) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.

Early life and education Hernandez was born in Nogales, Arizona, in 1957 and is of Hispanic descent. He then attended the University of Washington School of Law and earned his Juris Doctor in 1986.

Career After law school he returned to Oregon where he spent three years working for Legal Aid Services of Oregon where he often represented farm workers. Following his time with legal aid, Hernandez then joined the Washington County District Attorney's office as a deputy prosecutor in 1989. Shortly before leaving office in January 1995, Governor Barbara Roberts appointed Hernandez to be Washington County Circuit Court Judge. In 2001, he allowed a claim for loss of companionship in a pet case to go to trial, the first time such a claim was allowed to go to trial in the United States. Hernandez served as Presiding Judge of the County's Circuit Court from 2002 to 2005. and as presiding judge from 2002 until 2005. President George W. Bush selected Hernandez to fill the vacancy on the District Court of Oregon and submitted his nomination on July 23, 2008. Senators Gordon H. Smith and Ron Wyden supported the nomination, but it was made with less than six months remaining in the Bush presidency. The nomination was not acted upon by the 110th Congress and was thus returned. Republican Gordon Smith was narrowly defeated for re-election in 2008, and newly elected President Barack Obama restarted the judicial selection process for the District of Oregon. He is one of few people to be nominated to the federal bench by presidents from two different political parties. On February 7, 2011, the Senate unanimously confirmed Hernandez as the newest judge for the District of Oregon, and served until January 1, 2024, when he was succeeded by Judge Michael J. McShane. He assumed senior status on August 21, 2024.