When President Barack Obama took office, he inherited 54 Article III vacancies in the federal judiciary. Throughout his eight years in office, Obama appointed 108 federal judges. When Obama left office on Jan. 20, 2017, there were approximately 103 openings in the federal judiciary. Eighteen of these vacancies were in Texas-based U.S. District Courts alone, which normally seat 52 federal district court judges.
The number of federal judicial vacancies, in fact, was the reason one Northern District of Texas judge cited in a Nov. 13, 2017, order informing the parties that the U.S. Supreme Court would temporarily assign an out-of-state federal judge to sit in designation and preside over the widely publicized Forest Park Medical Center criminal trial in 2019:
“Our court is short four district judges out of twelve. While there are nominees for two vacancies, I must continue for the time being to handle the Amarillo criminal docket, which is not only numerically comparable to my Dallas Division criminal docket but involves frequent travel. Due to the shortage of judges on our court and the complexity of this case, it is anticipated that an active district judge from outside the circuit – a highly experienced trial judge – will be designated to replace me.”
Since Obama left office, the Trump administration has rapidly filled 174 of the open spots on federal benches across the Nation – 120 of those at the trial court level. Only one vacancy remains in Texas’ four federal districts.
As the point of entry into the federal judicial system, it is important to meet the 17 new U.S. District Court judges in Texas.
The Northern District of Texas
Judge Karen Gren Scholer
Confirmed: Mar. 5, 2018
Sitting in: Dallas
Judge Gren Scholer earned her B.A. from Rice University in 1979 and her J.D. from Cornell University Law School in 1982. Then she worked as an associate at Strasburger & Price beginning in 1982, where she eventually became partner. Her next move was joining Andrews & Kurth in 1996. In 2001, she was elected state district judge for the 95th Judicial District Court of Dallas County. The judge returned to practice as a partner at Jones Day from 2009 to 2013. She then started her own law firm, Carter Scholer, in 2014. The U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination to the federal bench in March of 2018. Judge Gren Scholer is the first Asian Pacific American to serve as a federal district court judge in Texas or in any Fifth Circuit district court.
Judge Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk
Confirmed: June 19, 2019
Sitting in: Amarillo
Judge Kacsmaryk earned his B.A. from Abilene Christian University in 1999 and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003. He worked as an associate at Baker Botts from 2003 until 2008. Kacsmaryk served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District from 2008 through 2013. In 2014, Kacsmaryk joined the First Liberty Institute, as its deputy general counsel.
Judge James Wesley Hendrix
Confirmed: July 30, 2019
Sitting in: Lubbock
Judge Hendrix earned his B.A. from the University of Chicago in 2000 and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003. He served as a law clerk to Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He then joined Baker Botts as an associate, where he practiced until 2007. In 2007, he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District as an assistant U.S. attorney and eventually ascended to the chief of the appellate division in 2012.
Judge Brantley David Starr
Confirmed: July 31, 2019
Sitting in: Dallas
Judge Starr earned his B.A. from Abilene Christian University in 2001 and his J.D. from University of Texas School of Law in 2004. He worked as an assistant attorney general to the State of Texas upon graduating law school. From 2005 to 2006, he served as a law clerk to then-Justice Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court. He returned to the Office of the Texas Attorney General as a fellow and assistant solicitor general from 2006 until 2008. He then spent three years in private practice as an associate at King & Spalding between 2008 and 2011. He returned to the Texas Supreme Court as a staff attorney to Justice Eva Guzman from 2011 to 2014. From 2015 until his confirmation, he worked in the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, including as the deputy first assistant attorney general.
Judge Mark T. Pittman
Confirmed: July 31, 2019
Sitting in: Fort Worth
Judge Pittman earned his B.A. from Texas A&M University in 1996 and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1999. He worked as an associate at Kelly, Hart & Hallman from 1999 until 2004, taking leave to serve as a law clerk for Judge Eldon Brooks Mahon of the Northern District of Texas between 2000 and 2001. In 2004, he joined the DOJ’s Civil Division in Washington, D.C., as a trial attorney. He then served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District from 2007 until 2009, a senior attorney for the FDIC in Dallas from 2009 to 2011, as an enforcement attorney with the SEC in Fort Worth from 2011 to 2015, and a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District from 2014 to 2015. In 2015, Pittman became a state district judge for the 352nd Judicial District Court of Fort Worth until he was appointed as an associate justice on the Court of Appeals for the Second District of Texas in 2017.
Judge Ada E. Brown
Confirmed: Sept. 30, 2019
Sitting in: Dallas
Judge Brown earned her B.A. from Spelman College in 1996 and her J.D. from Emory University School of Law in 1999. She worked as an assistant district attorney in Dallas County from 2000 until 2003 and the chief felony prosecutor for the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit from 2003 to 2005. She then served as a judge for Dallas County Criminal Court Number One until 2005, when until she joined McKool Smith. In 2013, she was appointed as a justice to the Texas Court of Appeals for the Fifth District, where she served until 2019. The judge also served as an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University in 2008, 2009 and 2012. Judge Brown is the first African-American woman to serve as a federal district court judge in the Northern District.
The Eastern District of Texas
Judge Jeremy Daniel Kernodle
Confirmed: Oct. 11, 2018
Sitting
in: Tyler
Judge Kernodle earned B.A. and B.B.A. degrees from Harding University in 1998 and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2001. After graduating law school, he clerked for Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. From 2002 to 2005, he worked as an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Covington & Burling. In 2005, he served the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, as an attorney-advisor. He returned to private practice at Haynes & Boone’s Dallas office in 2006, where he became partner until he was confirmed to the bench in 2018.
Judge J. Campbell Barker
Confirmed: May 1, 2019
Sitting in: Tyler
Judge Barker received his B.S. from Texas A&M University in 2002 and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2005. He clerked for Judge John M. Walker, Jr., of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge William C. Bryson of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. From 2007 until 2011, he was a trial attorney in the DOJ’s Criminal Division. He then worked in private practice at Yetter Coleman’s Houston office from 2011 through 2015. In 2015, he was hired to serve as deputy solicitor general to the State of Texas, a role he filled until he was confirmed in 2019.
Judge Michael J. Truncale
Confirmed: May 14, 2019
Sitting in: Beaumont
Judge Truncale earned his B.B.A. from Lamar University in 1978, an M.B.A. from the University of North Texas in 1980, a J.D. from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in 1985 and a Diploma in International Arbitration from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 2014. He worked as an associate-turned-partner at Orgain Bell & Tucker from 1985 until 2019.
Judge Sean D. Jordan
Confirmed: July 30, 2019
Sitting in: Plano
Judge Jordan served in the U.S. Army from 1983 until 1986. He earned his B.A. in 1991 and his J.D. in 1994, both from the University of Texas. Upon graduating, he worked at Bell & Murphy. In 1997, he moved to Beirne, Maynard & Parsons. Between 1998 and 2000, he worked at Solar & Fernandes, and at Jackson Walker from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, he joined the Office of the Texas Attorney General, where he would serve in various capacities, including principal solicitor general, until he returned to private practice in 2012 at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. In 2015, he returned to Jackson Walker, where he stayed until he was confirmed in 2019.
The Western District of Texas
Judge Alan Albright
Confirmed: Sept. 6, 2018
Sitting in: Waco
Judge Albright earned his B.A. from Trinity University in 1981 and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1984. He clerked for Judge James R. Nowlin in the Western District for two years. He then worked as an associate at McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore until he became a U.S. magistrate judge in the Western District from 1992 until 1999. Following his time as a magistrate judge, he returned to private practice, where he worked at various law firms, including most recently at the Austin office of Bracewell as a partner.
Judge David Counts
Confirmed: Jan. 11, 2018
Sitting in: Midland
Judge Counts earned his B.A. from Texas Tech University in 1983 and his J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1986. After one year working as an associate in the Austin law firm of Martin, Cox, Greenberg & Jones, he became an assistant district attorney in Travis County. In 1990, he started a solo practice in 1990 but returned to the Travis County D.A.’s Office in 1991. He then joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas in 1995. He served as a U.S. magistrate judge in the same District from 2009 until his nomination in 2018. The judge also served the Texas Army National Guard beginning in 1989, including as a judge advocate, state judge advocate and colonel. He was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army from 2004 to 2006.
Judge Jason Pulliam
Confirmed: July 31, 2019
Sitting in: San Antonio
Judge Pulliam earned his B.A. in 1995 and his M.A. in 1997 from Brooklyn College, City University of New York. He received his J.D. from Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 2000. Upon graduating, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2000 to 2004 as a captain and judge advocate. For the following six years, he worked in private practice as an associate at three different law firms. In 2010, he was elected to the Bexar County Court-at-Law. He won re-election in 2014 but was then appointed to fill a vacancy on the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals. The judge returned to private practice in 2017 until his confirmation in 2019.
The Southern District of Texas
Judge Jeffrey V. Brown
Confirmed: July 31, 2019
Sitting in: Galveston
Judge Brown earned his B.A. from the University of Texas in 1992 and his J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 1995. He worked as a briefing attorney at the Supreme Court of Texas after graduating. Then he joined the Houston office of Baker Botts as an associate. In 2001, he was appointed to the Harris County Texas 55th District Court as a state district judge, where he was elected to full terms in 2002 and 2006. In 2007, Brown was appointed to the Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals, where he was elected to full terms in 2008 and 2012. In 2013, the judge received his third appointment, this time to the Texas Supreme Court, where he was elected to full terms in 2014 and 2018. At various times throughout his legal career, he has taught as an adjunct professor at his law school alma mater.
Judge David S. Morales
Confirmed: Apr. 10, 2019
Sitting in: Corpus Christi
Judge Morales earned his B.A. from St. Edward’s University in 1990 and his J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1994. He worked at the Texas Office of the Attorney General from 1994 to 2011, including as a law clerk, assistant attorney general, associate deputy attorney general for litigation and chief ethics officer, deputy attorney general for civil litigation and deputy first assistant attorney general. In 2011, he joined the Texas Office of the Governor, serving as its general counsel until he became the deputy general counsel for the University of Texas System Board of Regents in 2014. He entered private practice in 2016, serving as a partner at the Austin office of Kelly Hart & Hallman until his confirmation in 2019.
Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr.
Confirmed: June 5, 2018
Sitting in: Brownsville
Judge Rodriguez earned his B.A. from Yale University in 1991 and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1997. Between his degrees, Rodriguez served as a Teach For America corp member. After graduating from law school, he was a briefing attorney to the Supreme Court of Texas. He then joined the Dallas office of Baker Botts as an associate in 1998, where he became a partner and practiced until 2009. In 2010, he worked as a field office director at the Bolivia and Dominican Republic offices of International Justice Mission until his confirmation in 2018.
Judge Charles Eskridge
Confirmed: July 31, 2019
Sitting in: Houston
Judge Eskridge earned his B.S. from Trinity University in 1985 and his J.D. from Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law in 1990. He clerked for Judge Charles Clark of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Byron R. White of the U.S. Supreme Court. He then served as a special assistant to Judge Howard M. Holtzmann of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague for two years. In 1994, the judge entered private practice at the Houston office of Susman Godfrey, where he became partner. In 2015, he moved to the Houston office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan until his confirmation in 2019. During his time in private practice, he also lectured at the University of Houston Law Center and his law school alma mater.
The Remaining Open Seat
Vacancy
Date: July 5,
2019
Sitting in: Houston
Following Judge Sim Lake’s decision to assume senior status on July 5, the lone vacancy on the federal judiciary in Texas is in the Southern District in Houston. Because there is currently no official nominee for this remaining seat, Texans will need to wait and see if the spot is filled in 2020.
Mario Nguyen is an Associate in the White Collar Criminal Defense and Investigations Department of Locke Lord’s Dallas office