The U.S. Senate has officially confirmed Dallas attorney Jeremy Kernodle as a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, his law firm Haynes and Boone announced Friday.
In a voice vote, the Senate opted Thursday for Kernodle, 42, to fill a vacancy in EDTX’s Tyler division. Kernodle succeeds Michael H. Schneider Sr., who retired from the bench in 2016.
Kernodle’s confirmation comes at a time when a short-staffed Eastern District is eagerly waiting to fill two more vacancies on the bench. Kernodle was among three lawyers President Trump nominated for the Eastern District in January. The other two were Texas Deputy Solicitor General J. Campbell Barker and Orgain Bell & Tucker partner Michael Truncale. Barker and Truncale’s nominations are still pending before the Senate.
“Jeremy Kernodle is a top litigator and will bring a tremendous record of experience and professionalism to the Eastern District of Texas,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R- Texas) said in a statement. “I thank my colleagues for their support of his confirmation, and I look forward to getting him seated on the Court as quickly as possible.”
“I was proud to recommend Jeremy Kernodle to President Trump to be a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Texas,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R- Texas) said in the same statement. “I am glad the Senate voted today to confirm Jeremy and I am confident he will serve the people of East Texas well as a principled judge on the federal bench.”
At Haynes and Boone, Kernodle headed the firm’s False Claims Act/Qui Tam practice group. He also has an extensive appellate practice, having many first-chair experiences in the Third Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Circuits; Texas Supreme Court; and Texas Courts of Appeals under his belt.
“Jeremy is a phenomenal addition to the federal bench in Texas, combining skill, judgment and a true judicial temperament,” Haynes and Boone Managing Partner Tim Powers said in a statement. “Our loss will be the judicial branch’s gain.”
Before joining Haynes and Boone in 2006, Kernodle served as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was among a small number of lawyers advising the White House and other senior Executive Branch officials on constitutional and other significant legal issues.
Before that, he worked as an associate in Covington & Burling’s Washington, D.C. office and clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat in the Eleventh Circuit.
Kernodle received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he graduated first in his class. For undergrad, he went to private liberal arts school Harding University in Arkansas.
The time and date for Kernodle’s formal swearing in ceremony (investiture) will be set at a later date.