Ricardo Hinojosa
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Ricardo H. Hinojosa (born 1950 in Rio Grande City, Texas) is a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and serves as the Chairman of the United States Sentencing Commission.
He was nominated to his current position by President Ronald Reagan on April 12, 1983, to fill the seat vacated by Woodrow B. Seals. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 4, 1983, and received his commission the following day.
Hinojosa received his Bachelor's degree, with honors, from the University of Texas in 1972, and went immediately to Harvard Law School earning his J.D. in 1975. Upon graduation, he served for a year as a law clerk to a justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and then entered private practice in McAllen, Texas until 1983. Since 2003 he has also been a Commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which oversees federal prison sentencing policies.
His name was mentioned as a potential Bush Administration candidate for the United States Supreme Court seat made available by the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. However, Bush nominated Harriet Miers and later Samuel Alito to that position, leaving other candidates to await the next Supreme Court vacancy.
