Jonathan Allen Kobes

Jonathan Allen Kobes (born August 25, 1974) is an active United States circuit judge on the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed in December 2018, he has served on the federal appellate bench since receiving his commission the following day. His career spans experience in government service, private practice, corporate compliance, and legislative counsel.

Early life and legal career

Kobes was raised in the Midwest and pursued higher education at Dordt University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He continued his studies at Harvard Law School, obtaining a Juris Doctor while contributing to the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy as both an editor and its business manager. During law school, Kobes gained exposure to a range of public‑sector legal work through positions with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa, and the Chicago office of the firm McDermott Will & Emery.

After graduating, Kobes clerked for Judge Roger Leland Wollman of the Eighth Circuit, an experience that introduced him to appellate practice. He then served as a litigation attorney for the Central Intelligence Agency from 2002 to 2003, followed by a two‑year tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of South Dakota (2003–2005). In private practice, he was an associate at Murphy, Goldammer & Prendergast in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, between 2005 and 2008.

Transitioning to the corporate sector, Kobes held senior counsel positions with several firms headquartered in the Upper Midwest. He acted as senior counsel for POET, a biofuel company based in Sioux Falls, and later served as senior regulatory counsel for DuPont Pioneer in Johnston, Iowa. His corporate experience culminated in his role as Director of Corporate Compliance at Raven Industries, where he oversaw compliance programs across the organization.

From 2014 to 2018, Kobes worked as General Counsel to U.S. Senator Mike Rounds, providing legal advice on legislative matters and constituent issues. During this period, he also participated in partisan political activity as a member of the Central Committee of the Lincoln County Republican Party. Earlier in his career, from 1999 to 2004, he was affiliated with the Federalist Society, a national organization of conservative and libertarian lawyers.

Federal appellate service

President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate Kobes to the Eighth Circuit on June 7, 2018, designating him to fill the vacancy created by Judge Roger Leland Wollman’s transition to senior status. The formal nomination was transmitted to the Senate on June 11, 2018. A hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee took place on August 22, 2018.

The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary evaluated Kobes and issued a “Not Qualified” rating in September 2018. The committee’s assessment highlighted concerns about the depth of his experience with complex legal analysis and noted that the six cases he had tried were considered straightforward rather than legally intricate.

Despite the ABA rating, the Judiciary Committee reported Kobes’ nomination to the full Senate by an 11–10 vote on October 11, 2018. The Senate subsequently invoked cloture on his nomination on November 29, 2018 with a 50–49 vote; Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie‑breaking vote. Confirmation followed on December 11, 2018, also by a narrow 51–50 margin, with the Vice President again providing the decisive affirmative vote. This confirmation marked the first instance in which a federal judicial nominee was confirmed through a tie‑breaking vote by the Vice President.

Kobes received his commission on December 12, 2018 and has served continuously as an active circuit judge since that date. His tenure on the Eighth Circuit places him within a jurisdiction covering seven states—Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota—and involves reviewing decisions from federal district courts, administrative agencies, and other lower tribunals.

Jurisprudence and legacy

Since joining the bench, Judge Kobes has participated in panels addressing a variety of legal issues arising within the Eighth Circuit’s jurisdiction. One publicly noted decision came in December 2021, when he affirmed a twenty‑year prison sentence imposed on a physician employed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The conviction stemmed from the doctor’s misdiagnosis of a patient, an error that resulted in the patient’s death. Kobes’ opinion upheld the lower court’s judgment and underscored the seriousness with which the judiciary treats professional negligence leading to fatal outcomes.

Kobes’ confirmation process itself has become a point of reference in discussions about judicial appointments. The narrow vote margins and the reliance on the Vice President’s tie‑breaking authority illustrate the increasingly partisan dynamics surrounding federal nominations, even as judges themselves remain non‑partisan actors on the bench. His earlier “Not Qualified” rating by the ABA also contributes to ongoing debates regarding the criteria used to assess nominees’ readiness for appellate service.

Beyond specific rulings, Judge Kobes brings a multifaceted background that includes experience in intelligence litigation, federal prosecution, corporate compliance, and legislative counsel. This blend of public‑sector and private‑sector perspectives informs his approach to interpreting statutes, regulations, and precedent. While the public record does not detail an extensive body of authored opinions, his participation in appellate panels contributes to the development of case law within the Eighth Circuit’s jurisdiction.

Judge Kobes remains a member of the Federalist Society, reflecting continued engagement with a professional community that emphasizes textualism and originalism in legal interpretation. His career trajectory—from clerkship through roles in government agencies, private practice, corporate compliance, and legislative counsel—exemplifies a path that combines practical litigation experience with policy‑focused advisory work.

As an active circuit judge, Kobes continues to shape the jurisprudence of the Eighth Circuit through his decisions on appeals involving civil rights, administrative law, criminal matters, and other federal issues. His service adds to the collective judicial effort to ensure uniform application of federal law across a diverse regional landscape, maintaining the rule of law as envisioned by the United States Constitution.