Chief Judge Reed O’Connor
Northern Texas U.S. District Court
Reed Charles O’Connor was born in June 1965 in Houston, Texas. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Houston and earned his Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law. He entered private practice.
He served as an assistant district attorney with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office in Fort Worth for four years. He was the Assistant United States Attorney in that district for 11 years. During that time, he also worked on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
O’Connor was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was confirmed by the Senate and received his commission in November 2007. He became chief judge of the Northern District of Texas in August 2025.
In the News…
Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern Texas U.S. District Court ruled that banning firearms from the grounds of a U.S. Post Office is unconstitutional. Plaintiffs challenged a U.S. Postal Service regulation that prohibits carrying firearms, “or other dangers or deadly weapons,“ on postal property, “except for official purposes.“ The penalties may include a fine or 30-day imprisonment.
Judge O’Connor wrote that the law “is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment with respect to Plaintiffs’ (and their members) possession and carrying of firearms inside of an ordinary United States Post Office or the surrounding Post Office property.”
“The first prohibition on firearms possession in government buildings was not codified until 1964. And the first regulation specifically banning arms on post office property was codified in 1972,” Judge O’Connor noted. “Even though Congress and the Founders were aware of the ‘general societal problem‘ of violence towards the postal service, the prohibition against firearms in post offices or on postal property did not appear until nearly 200 years after the founding.
The ruling applies to “ordinary post offices“ that are not located on military bases or in a federal building where armed security is present.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge O’Connor today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Reed O’Connor
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
501 West 10th Street
Fort Worth, TX 76102
