Dozen Candidates Contend for South Texas Federal Judgeships (1)

A dozen attorneys and judges have interviewed for open seats in the Houston and McAllen, Texas federal district courts, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Nicholas Ganjei, the current US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, was one of the people interviewed for a federal judgeship in Houston, those people said. A former chief counsel for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ganjei was among those considered by the bipartisan Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee (FJEC), whose members are chosen by Cruz and fellow Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn.

There are five seats for the Trump White House to fill in the Southern District of Texas, three of them in Houston and two in McAllen, a border court. Four of those vacancies pre-date President Donald Trump’s second term. The fifth vacancy will open in McAllen when US District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa takes senior status.

FJEC chairman David Prichard didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Among the others who interviewed for a judgeship in Houston are Judge Jesse McClure of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Michelle Slaughter, and Angela Colmenero, the deputy chief of staff to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who’s previously served as interim state attorney general, the people said.

Slaughter lost her bench on Texas’ highest criminal court last year to a Republican primary opponent backed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). Slaughter and two other incumbents drew Paxton’s retaliation after the court ruled that the attorney general’s office can’t unilaterally prosecute voting-related crimes and can only act on an invitation from a local prosecuting office.

Jennifer Freel, a former federal prosecutor and current Jackson Walker partner in Austin, and US Magistrate Judge Richard Bennett, who already sits in Houston, also interviewed for the seat, the sources said. Justice Ken Wise, who serves on the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston, was also interviewed, the people said.

Bennett declined to comment. None of the other candidates for the judgeships immediately responded to comment requests.

Five people also interviewed for a judgeship in McAllen, the people said. Alyssa Iglesias and Alejandra Andrade, who have worked as assistant US attorneys in the district, interviewed, as did executive assistant US attorney Arthur “Rob” Jones.

Two US magistrate judges – Scott Hacker in McAllen and Ignacio Torteya III in Brownsville – were interviewed as well, the sources said.

Candidates are also being considered for open judgeships in Austin and Waco, in the Western District of Texas.