Judge Chris Wolfe of Tarrant County is poised to become a U.S. district judge.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Wolfe, who has overseen the 213th Judicial District Court in Tarrant County since October 2018, as the next federal judge for the Western District of Texas – Waco Division.
Wolfe will be formally appointed when President Donald Trump soon signs the confirmation legislation. The judge will then be sworn in to the lifetime appointment. U.S. federal district court judges are paid $249,000 a year.
Wolfe is a longtime mainstay of the Tarrant County legal system. Before his election as state district judge, he was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth for 15 years. Wolfe has undergraduate and law degrees from Baylor University.
Wolfe was recommended to the Trump administration by Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz who vet candidates through a bipartisan committee that reviews judge qualifications.
“I’m so grateful for Sen. Cornyn and Sen. Cruz recommending me to the president and trusting me to serve the Western District of Texas,” Wolfe said in a statement. “I’m ready to work and look forward to returning to Waco.”
Following the Senate vote, Cornyn said Wolfe’s confirmation is part of continuing the president’s acceleration of judicial appointments and confirmations.
“I was proud to join Sen. Cruz in recommending him to serve on the federal bench given his wealth of experience upholding the rule of law as a state district judge, and I look forward to seeing the good work he’ll do on the federal bench,” Cornyn said.
Wolfe was confirmed 53-45 in a partyline vote.
“Of course I would have preferred a unanimous vote by the Senate, but I understand the process,” he said. “I’m confident that, over time, I’ll prove worthy of the appointment.”
Senate Democrats have taken a stand on judicial nominees for their unwillingness to challenge Trump on the 2020 presidential election results and on the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The standard answer of judicial nominees asked by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who won the 2020 presidential election is that Joe Biden was certified the winner by Congress and served four years as president.
During a Feb. 4 confirmation hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, asked Wolfe and four other nominees about whether the Capitol was attacked five years ago
Wolfe told Blumenthal that it would be inappropriate for them to weigh in on a political issue that may come before them. The Connecticut Democrat said Wolfe and other nominees rehearsed their answers.
“You are going to be on the bench if you’re confirmed … without the kind of courage that you should be expected to show in that position, a position of trust more serious than any other in our government with a lifetime tenure. I think you failed the test,” Blumenthal said.
One of the other nominees was Andrew Davis, a former chief counsel to Cruz on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who was later confirmed to be U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas – Austin.
Wolfe’s appointment will create a vacancy on the 213th District Court bench that Gov. Greg Abbott may fill to serve the remainder of the judge’s four-year term. Wolfe was reelected in 2024.
In a Facebook post, Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare congratulated Wolfe for his confirmation.
“We’ll miss you in the 213th, but we know you’ll make Tarrant County proud serving in the federal judiciary,” O’Hare wrote.
Maria Recio is a freelance reporter based in Washington, D.C.
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