Early life and education
Hernandez was born in Nogales, Arizona, in 1957 and is of Hispanic descent.[1][2][3] He moved to Oregon at 17 and began work as a dishwasher, and then as a janitor before working his way through community college while working as a teacher's aide.[4] Hernandez then moved on to a four-year school and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Oregon State College (now known as Western Oregon University) in 1983.[4][5] He then attended the University of Washington School of Law and earned his Juris Doctor in 1986.[5][6]
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.[2][7] Following his time with legal aid, Hernandez then joined the Washington County District Attorney's office as a deputy prosecutor in 1989.[8] Shortly before leaving office in January 1995, Governor Barbara Roberts appointed Hernandez to be Washington County Circuit Court Judge.[3] 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.[9] Hernandez served as Presiding Judge of the County's Circuit Court from 2002 to 2005.[5][8] He won re-election to a new six-year term on the court in May 2008.[2] He has also served as the judge for the county's Mental Health Court,[10] and as presiding judge from 2002 until 2005.[6]
Federal judicial nominations
In January 2008, Hernandez was one of three candidates recommended by a six-member judicial selection committee to replace Garr King on the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.[11] President George W. Bush selected Hernandez to fill the vacancy on the District Court of Oregon and submitted his nomination on July 23, 2008.[2] Senators Gordon H. Smith and Ron Wyden supported the nomination, but it was made with less than six months remaining in the Bush presidency.[2][12] The nomination was not acted upon by the 110th Congress and was thus returned.[13] 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.[3] Democrat Ron Wyden recommended Hernandez in addition to five other candidates selected by a thirteen-member judicial selection committee.[12] On July 14, 2010, Obama renominated Hernandez to replace Garr King.[14] He is one of few people to be nominated to the federal bench by presidents from two different political parties.[8] The Senate again failed to act on Hernandez's nomination, and President Obama nominated Hernandez again in January 2011.[4] On February 7, 2011, the Senate unanimously confirmed Hernandez as the newest judge for the District of Oregon,[4] and he received his commission on February 9.[6] He became chief judge on December 23, 2019[15] and served until January 1, 2024, when he was succeeded by Judge Michael J. McShane.[16]
