President Donald Trump made two nominations for the federal benches Texas Monday. He nominated Kirkland & Ellis partner Kasdin Mitchell as a federal judge for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas and Angela Colmenero, deputy chief of staff to Gov. Greg Abbott, to the Southern District of Texas in Houston.
“I applaud President Trump for nominating Kasdin Mitchell to serve as a federal judge for the Northern District of Texas,” Sen. John Cornyn said in a news release. “She will bring a wealth of experience in the legal field and public service to the federal bench, and I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to join Senator Cruz and me in supporting her nomination.”
Mitchell is a second-generation lawyer who graduated from Yale University in 2007 with a degree in political science. Before law school, she worked in the George W. Bush administration, first in the Department of Energy and later as First Lady Laura Bush’s assistant press secretary in Washington, D.C.
She graduated from Yale Law School in 2012, where she was co-editor-in-chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review. She also clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Trump has also nominated Colmenero, who has served in Gov. Abbott’s office since 2018.
“I am proud to support President Trump’s nomination of Angela Colmenero to serve as a federal judge in Houston,” Sen. Cornyn said in a news release. “Angela has dedicated her career to serving Texas, and I trust she will carry that passion, paired with her astute understanding of the law, into her next role on the bench. I was honored to join Senator Cruz in recommending Angela for this position, and I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting her nomination.”
Prior to her current role, she served as principal deputy general counsel to the governor and deputy general counsel to the governor. Colmenero previously held various leadership positions for nearly a decade at the Texas attorney general’s office, including as chief of the general litigation division and deputy chief of the special litigation division.
Before working for the government, she was an associate at Lynn Tillotson Pinker & Cox and Jones Day.
She graduated from the University of Texas in 2001 and the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2004.
Colmenero did not immediately respond to a request for comment.