Two names have been submitted to the White House for consideration for judicial vacancies in the Southern and Western Districts of Texas, and President Donald Trump has nominated Kirkland & Ellis partner Ryan Raybould for U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
While the government shutdown persists and the House of Representatives is not meeting, the Senate is still meeting and able to confirm nominations.
Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn have sent two names to the president for possible nomination to the federal judiciary: Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Nick Ganjei for a judicial vacancy in Houston and Lehotsky Keller Cohen partner Andrew Davis for a judicial vacancy in the Western District in Austin.
Ganjei most recently served as chief counsel to Cruz and the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution.
He has previously served as acting U.S. attorney and first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. He joined the Department of Justice in 2008 as an assistant U.S. attorney on the Mexico border.
Ganjei earned his law degree from the University of California Berkeley School of Law in 2005. He graduated from American University in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science.
There are currently four open judicial positions in the Southern District due to judges taking senior status.
Davis, if selected by President Trump, would be nominated to fill one of two judicial positions in the Western District that are open after Lee Yeakel retired from the bench to join King & Spalding as senior counsel and Judge David Guaderrama took senior status.
Before joining Lehotsky Keller Cohn, Davis served as chief counsel to Cruz on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Davis practiced at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C., before serving as an assistant solicitor general of Texas.
He earned his law degree from Columbia University in 2012 and clerked for Judge Reena Raggi of the Second Circuit and for Judge Sidney Fitzwater of the Northern District of Texas. Davis graduated from Rice University with a degree in mathematical economic analysis in 2008.
Neither Genjei nor Davis responded to requests for comment.
There are also three judicial vacancies in the Northern District, and all four U.S. attorney’s offices have had vacancies since the start of the year.
Raybould’s colleague and Kirkland & Ellis partner Erin Nealy Cox praised his nomination.
“I hired him as an AUSA in the [Northern District of Texas] and then also to Kirkland after he finished his tenure with Sen. Cornyn,” Nealy Cox said. “I am confident he’ll be a great United States attorney.”
Raybould has not appeared on the Senate’s calendar for consideration at this time, but Nealy Cox said it can take two to three months, depending on the Senate calendar.
Nealy Cox was President Trump’s nominee for Northern District of Texas U.S. attorney in 2017 during his first term.
Cornyn released a statement saying he was “proud” to recommend Raybould for U.S. attorney.
“Ryan served as my office’s chief counsel for multiple years, during which time I saw firsthand how intelligent, judicious, and well-versed in the law he truly is. This experience coupled with Ryan’s impressive work as a former federal prosecutor make him an excellent choice by President Trump to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dallas,” Cornyn said in a news release. “I was proud to recommend Ryan for this position, and I look forward to seeing how he will continue serving Texans in this role once confirmed.”
Raybould joined Kirkland & Ellis after serving as chief counsel to Cornyn. He spent almost seven years as a federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Texas and the Middle District of Tennessee.
Raybould was a professional soccer player for Kansas City and a team in Sweden after graduating from Yale University in 2005 with a history degree.
After retiring from professional soccer, Raybould attended law school. He graduated from Notre Dame University in 2012 and then was a judicial clerk for Chief Judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas.
Raybould did not respond to requests for comment.
Nominations for the other three districts have not been announced yet.