Credit : Reuters' X
WASHINGTON, November 5, 2026 — US President Donald Trump is moving to nominate a Republican member of the Texas Supreme Court whom voters ousted on Tuesday to a life-tenured federal judgeship, according to US Senate records made public on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Reuters reported on X that Trump plans to nominate the defeated justice to the federal bench. Trump has not publicly announced the nomination, but the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has received paperwork 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, according to the Reuters account carried by Investing.com. The White House and Sullivan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
His nomination is expected to 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 in Trump’s second term. Over Democratic objections, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the outgoing Judiciary Committee chair, scheduled nomination hearings in consecutive weeks starting November 10, departing from the panel’s usual every-other-week pattern.
Outgoing justice after midterm sweep
Sullivan, 45, was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in January 2025 by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who lost his re-election bid on Tuesday to Democrat Gina Hinojosa. Democrats won all four Texas Supreme Court seats on the ballot, shrinking the Republican majority on the nine-member court to 5-4, Reuters reported. Sullivan lost to Democrat Chari Kelly. His campaign website described him as “bold,” “relentless” and “conservative.”
In a Senate questionnaire submitted to the Judiciary Committee, Sullivan noted that his candidacy to retain the state seat had been “unsuccessful.” Such questionnaires are filed by the Justice Department and have at times been submitted before nominations are formally announced.
State Court Report said Democrats swept the four high-court races, defeating Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock and Justices Sullivan, Kyle Hawkins and Brett Busby — the first Democratic wins on the court since 1994. Bloomberg Law reported that Democrats also swept 21 appellate races statewide and that Hinojosa will inherit appointment power Abbott used for more than 100 judicial vacancies.
Western District vacancy
Nomination Notes, which obtained Sullivan’s questionnaire, said he previously served as Abbott’s general counsel and as an assistant solicitor general, clerked for a federal appeals judge, and graduated from Rice University and Harvard Law School. It said Trump has already appointed five judges to the Western District of Texas and that Sullivan would fill the seat left by Judge Alan Albright, who resigned effective August 31.
Critics argue that elevating a justice rejected by Texas voters to a lifetime federal post during a lame-duck session would undercut the midterm verdict. Supporters of the White House say filling vacancies before January is a normal use of residual Senate power. Whether Sullivan receives a November hearing or waits until December will test Grassley’s accelerated calendar.
Trump appointed 234 federal judges in his first term, including three Supreme Court justices. The latest Texas nomination fight sits at the intersection of that judicial project and the midterm losses that will hand Democrats the Senate gavel in January. LNA will continue to follow the paperwork and any formal White House announcement.
Credit : Reuters’ X, with reporting from Investing.com, Bloomberg Law, State Court Report and Nomination Notes.
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