Halil Suleyman Ozerden

Halil Suleyman "Sul" Ozerden, born on December 5, 1966, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to a Turkish family, serves as the chief United States district judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. He was previously nominated for a seat on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals but did not secure confirmation. Ozerden earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and later graduated with a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School, where he served as an associate editor for the *Stanford Law Review*. Ozerden served in the U.S. Navy from 1989 to 1995, achieving over 1,000 flight hours as a naval flight officer and participating in operations such as Restore Hope in Somalia and Southern Watch in Iraq. He received awards including the Navy Commendation Medal and Navy Achievement Medal before being honorably discharged as a lieutenant. After his military service, Ozerden clerked for Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1998 to 1999 and later worked as a private practice attorney in Mississippi until 2007. President George W. Bush nominated him to the Southern District of Mississippi court, and he was confirmed by the Senate with a 95–0 vote in 2007. He became chief judge on November 4, 2024. In 2023, Ozerden ruled in favor of an anti-vaccine group, overturning Mississippi’s strict vaccination requirements to allow religious exemptions. This decision impacted Mississippi’s high vaccination rates. In 2019, President Donald Trump nominated Ozerden for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, but his nomination faced opposition ...