Patrick Wyrick

Patrick Robert Wyrick (born March 11, 1981) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma and a former Associate Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Wyrick previously served as Solicitor General in the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General from 2011 to 2017.

Education and early career

Wyrick was born in Denison, Texas, and raised in Atoka, Oklahoma, where he graduated from Atoka High School. Wyrick clerked for Judge James H. Payne of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma from 2007 to 2008. Notably, he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the lethal injection case Glossip v. Gross (2015), where the court ruled in Oklahoma's favor by a 5–4 vote. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan questioned Wyrick "forcefully" and "intensely" during oral arguments in the case.

State judicial service

Oklahoma Supreme Court justice Steven W. Taylor retired on December 31, 2016. The Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission submitted three names of potential nominees to replace Taylor to Governor Mary Fallin. Wyrick and two Oklahoma district court judges, Mark Campbell and Jonathan Sullivan, were nominated by the commission. His tenure as an associate justice ended on April 10, 2019, when he received his commission as a federal district judge.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oklahoma, acting on behalf of two Oklahoma residents, filed a lawsuit challenging Wyrick's appointment, arguing that he did not meet residency requirements for his judgeship. The Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the two residents lacked standing to sue.

On November 17, 2017, Wyrick was named by President Donald Trump as a potential nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Wyrick ran in the retention election in November 2018 for a new six-year term. He was retained, with 62% of voters voting to retain him.

Federal judicial service

On April 10, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Wyrick to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. He was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge David Lynn Russell, who assumed senior status on July 7, 2013. On May 23, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During his confirmation hearing, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse questioned him about an exchange he had with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor during a 2015 death penalty case before the court. On June 14, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote.

On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Wyrick for a federal judgeship. His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day. On February 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On April 9, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 53–46 vote. He was confirmed later that day by a 53–47 vote. He received his judicial commission on April 10, 2019.

Notable rulings

On February 3, 2023, he dismissed an indictment against a man who was charged with violating the federal ban on marijuana users possessing a firearm, ruling that the ban was unconstitutional in the wake of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.

Memberships

He has been a member of the Federalist Society since approximately 2011.

Electoral history 2018