The Western District of Texas will be getting two new federal judges after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved President Donald Trump’s nominations for jurists who will sit in Waco and Austin.
Tarrant County District Judge Christopher Wolfe will be in Waco, taking over the seat left vacant by U.S. District Judge David C. Guaderrama, who took senior status. Andrew Davis, currently a partner at Lehotsky Keller Cohn, will succeed U.S District Judge Earl Leroy Yeakel III, who retired in May 2023 after 20 years on the bench in Austin.
“President Trump could not have chosen better nominees than Christopher Wolfe and Andrew Davis to serve as federal judges in Waco and Austin, respectively,” Sen. John Cornyn said in a news release. “Mr. Davis has had an impressive career in the legal field, and Judge Wolfe has a wealth of experience upholding the rule of law as a State District Judge in Fort Worth. I was proud to join Senator Cruz in recommending these great Texans to serve on the federal bench, and I urge their swift confirmations.”
The Texas Republican Sens. Cornyn and Ted Cruz recommended both nominees to President Trump following a review and interview process of the candidate pool by the bipartisan Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee.
Wolfe has served as Judge of the 213th Judicial District Court in Tarrant County since October 2018, where he presides over felony criminal cases and supervises the Felony Alcohol Intervention Program, a treatment program for repeat DWI offenders.
Wolfe previously served as deputy branch manager of the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, and served as an assistant U.S. attorney for 15 years.
Wolfe earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Baylor University and his law degree from the Baylor School of Law in 1998.
Davis previously served as chief counsel to Sen. Cruz on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Before that, he was an assistant solicitor general in the Texas attorney general’s office. Davis previously practiced at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C.
After graduating from Columbia Law School in 2012, Davis served as a judicial clerk for Judge Reena Raggi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Sidney Fitzwater of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Neither Wolfe nor Davis immediately responded to a request for comment.
There are a total of seven open federal judicial positions for the Northern and Southern District Courts of Texas due to judges taking senior status.