Southern District of Texas / Appointed 2019 / Active

David Steven Morales

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas

Appointed by President Donald J. Trump in 2019 and confirmed by the Senate 5641, David Steven Morales is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He earned a law degree from St. Mary's University School of Law, Texas in 1994. Sources ↓

Born
1968 · age 58
Appointed by
Donald J. Trump, 2019
Confirmed
56–41
Education
St. Edward's 1990 · St. Mary's Law, Texas 1994

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
2019Southern District of TexasTrump (R)56–41

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own.

Confirmation vote

Nomination Confirmed 5641 on April 10, 2019 · 116th Congress, Roll Call 75. Each senator links to their judicial-voting record.

Voted to confirm · 56

4 D, 52 R

Voted against · 41

39 D, 2 I

Did not vote · 3

2 D, 1 R

Education

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Morales was assigned 1,084 district-court cases (2015–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 201 days across 833 closed cases.

Other civil matters58%
Criminal8%
Personal-injury torts7%
Civil rights7%
Contract6%
Prisoner & habeas4%
Other9%

Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.

On appeal

Of 70 of Morales’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 57 were affirmed, 5 reversed or vacated, and 8 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.

Questions & answers

Who appointed David Steven Morales?
President Donald J. Trump appointed David Steven Morales to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 2019.
Was David Steven Morales appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
David Steven Morales was appointed by President Donald J. Trump, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was David Steven Morales's confirmation vote?
The Senate confirmed David Steven Morales 56–41 on April 10, 2019.
Which court is David Steven Morales on?
David Steven Morales is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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7 years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).