WASHINGTON — Dallas attorney Kasdin Mitchell is joining the federal bench in the Northern District of Texas after the Senate voted 49-45 this week to confirm her nomination.
Mitchell is a litigation partner with Kirkland & Ellis in its Dallas office, where she’s represented companies such as Facebook, Dow Inc. and Boeing. Before that, she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both Texas Republicans, recommended Mitchell for the position after a review of the candidate pool by a bipartisan panel of attorneys the senators have established.
“Kasdin Mitchell is a well-regarded litigator and a former clerk for some of our nation’s sharpest legal minds, and it’s no surprise that President Trump selected her to serve as a U.S. District Judge,” Cornyn said in a news release after the vote.
The vote fell along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the nomination and no Republicans opposing it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee this week held confirmation hearings for two other Texas U.S. District judge nominees.
Richard Bennett has been nominated to the Southern District of Texas, while Courtney Coker has been nominated to the Northern District of Texas.
Coker was promoted last year to first assistant U.S. attorney general for the Northern District of Texas after serving as the deputy criminal chief there.
Coker has served as a prosecutor in Puerto Rico, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi. Before that, he was a criminal defense attorney and child advocate attorney in the private sector.
During his hearing, senators asked Coker about bouncing around during his time as a federal prosecutor.
“Whether it be prosecuting the Colombian narco traffickers in the Southern District of Florida and the District of Puerto Rico or the Mexican cartels in the Northern District of Texas, the one North Star that I’ve always come back to is fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law,” Coker said.