Obama names three Texas judges in apparent deal with Cornyn and Cruz
WASHINGTON– Breaking a longstanding logjam, President Obama announced nominees for three vacant Texas federal court benches late Thursday.
If confirmed, U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman of San Antonio, Texarkana lawyer Robert Schroeder III, and Sherman Magistrate Judge Amos Mazzant III will all get lifetime jobs as U.S. district court judges.
“Any nominations are critically important, as Texas desperately needs to have as many of its nine district and two circuit vacancies filled,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who tracks nominations. “The judges are overwhelmed by crushing case loads and too few judicial resources.”
Pitman’s appointment would be “historic,” Tobias added, because he would be the first openly gay federal judge in the state.
Pitman is used to breaking ground. He became Texas’ first openly gay U.S. attorney, and one of the first anywhere. Before his appointment in 2011 as the top federal prosecutor for the Western District of Texas, he served as a magistrate judge.
Pitman, nominated for a seat in San Antonio, earned his law degree from the University of Texas. If confirmed by the Senate, he will take the bench formerly filled by W. Royal Furgeson Jr., dean of the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law that is set to open this fall.
Furgeson, reached Thursday night, called him “an outstanding choice. His career covers a wide range of experience. At every juncture, he has performed brilliantly. He works hard. He is very balanced and has excellent temperament. And he is a very decent, honorable and humble person.”
Texas has more vacancies than any other state. The liberal group Alliance for Justice, lauding the nominations, accused Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of prolonging the crisis by “dithering.”
Cornyn aide Megan Mitchell said the senators recommended the picks to the president. Each had been screened by the senators’ Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee. Cornyn spoke to each nominee on Thursday, she said.
Mazzant is a federal magistrate judge in Sherman. Before that he served as a state-level appeals judge, on the Dallas-based Fifth District court. He’s a graduate of Baylor law school. He was nominated for a seat in Marshall.
Schroeder is a partner at the law firm Patton, Tidwell, Schroeder & Culbertson. He worked under President Bill Clinton in the Office of the White House Counsel. His seat is in Texarkana.