The Hon. Roger T. Benitez is a District Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He was nominated by President George W. Bush in May 2003 and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June 2004. Prior to his nomination, Judge Benitez had served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California since 2001.
Judge Benitez received his B.A. from San Diego State University in 1974. He went on to earn his J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 1978.
After graduating from law school, Benitez entered into private practice. During his nineteen-year tenure in the private sector, Benitez practiced as a named partner at the law firm Heim, Benitez, and Driskill. He remained in private practice until receiving a call to the state bench in 1997.
It was at that time that former Governor Pete Wilson appointed him to serve as a judge for the Imperial County Superior Court. Judge Benitez held that position, until being selected to serve as a magistrate judge for the District Court in 2001. During his tenure on the Superior Court, Judge Benitez served as Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division.
He also served as an instructor at the Imperial Valley College.
During his time on the District Court, Judge Benitez has sat by designation with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and also sat on assignment in Arizona, Guam, and Saipan. He has been a participant in the Patent Pilot Project Panel of the Southern District of California and was appointed by the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to serve as a member of the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Financial Disclosure. He has also served as chair of the IT Committee for the Southern District.
His other memberships have included the San Diego Federal Bar Association, the Federal Judges Association, the Wallace Inn of Court, the Imperial County Private Industry Council, and the Imperial County Bar Association.
His involvement in the local community has included volunteering with local high school mock trial programs, serving on the board of directors for the California Youth Soccer Association, and as a search and rescue member of the DeAnza Rescue Unit.
Judge Benitez was born in Havana, Cuba.