Key facts
- Senate Judiciary Committee received paperwork to begin considering James Sullivan as a federal judge in Austin, per Senate records.
- Trump has not announced the nomination, and the White House and Sullivan did not respond to comment requests.
- Republicans aim to confirm nearly two dozen pending judicial nominees before Democrats take the Senate in January.
- Trump made 234 judicial appointments in his first term, including three Supreme Court justices, Reuters reported.
- Grassley scheduled nomination hearings in consecutive weeks starting November 10, departing from the panel's usual every-other-week practice.
US Senate records made public on Thursday show paperwork filed to begin considering outgoing Texas Supreme Court Justice James Sullivan for a seat on the US District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin, Reuters reported on November 5, 2026. President Donald Trump has not announced the nomination. The White House and Sullivan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The nomination would be taken up during the lame-duck session in the final weeks before Democrats take control of the Senate in January. Republicans are pushing to confirm nearly two dozen pending judicial nominees and add to 56 confirmed so far during Trump's second term. Trump made 234 judicial appointments in his first term, including three Supreme Court justices, Reuters reported.
Over Democrats' objections, Republican US Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee's outgoing chair, scheduled judicial nomination hearings in consecutive weeks starting November 10, departing from the panel's typical practice of holding them every other week.
Sullivan, 45, was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in January 2025 to fill a vacancy by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who lost his bid for reelection on Tuesday to Democrat Gina Hinojosa. Democrats won all four seats up for a vote on the state's nine-member high court, shrinking the Republican majority to 5-4. Sullivan lost Tuesday's election to Chari Kelly, a Democrat, and in a Senate questionnaire submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sullivan noted his candidacy to retain his seat had been "unsuccessful." Such questionnaires are submitted to the committee by the US Department of Justice, and the Trump administration at times has submitted them before nominations have been officially announced.