President Donald Trump announced his latest wave of judicial nominations Wednesday, three of which were in Texas.
The announcement comes in the midst of the longest partial government shutdown in history – one in which the operations of the district courts for the three Texas nominees are under a severe threat – which makes the question of when these nominees can even get approved unclear.
In the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Trump nominated Sean Jordan, a partner in Jackson Walker’s Austin office and a former Texas principal deputy solicitor general. At Jackson Walker, Jordan’s practice focuses on appellate and complex civil litigation and regulatory compliance. He also served in the U.S. Army as an infantryman and paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He received both his bachelor’s degree and J.D. from The University of Texas.
In a statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton commended Trump’s nomination of Jordan.
“Sean Jordan is a brilliant attorney and I’m confident he will perform his duties as a federal jurist knowing that the role of a judge is to interpret the law, not to legislate,” Attorney General Paxton said. “During his career in private practice and as Texas deputy solicitor general, Sean established a proven record of excellence and professionalism. He’ll make an outstanding addition to the federal bench.”
In the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Trump nominated James Wesley (“Wes”) Hendrix and Mark Pittman.
Hendrix currently serves as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Texas, where he serves as chief of the office’s appellate division. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office in 2007, Hendrix was an associate in Baker Botts’ Dallas office, where he practiced complex civil litigation. After graduating from law school at the University of Texas, Hendrix clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago.
Pittman is currently a justice on Texas’s Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth. Before joining the appellate bench, Pittman was a judge on the state’s 352nd district court in Fort Worth. Before that, he served as an enforcement attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He also held multiple positions within the Department of Justice, including an AUSA and a trial attorney in the commercial litigation branch of the DOJ’s civil division. After law school, Pittman clerked for U.S. District Judge Eldon Mahon of the Northern District of Texas. He received his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law.