Trump picks Justice Department lawyer Elliot Gaiser for Texas federal court

Donald Trump has chosen Elliot Gaiser for the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, a week after Democrats won control of the next Senate in the midterm elections.

In a 10 November Truth Social post, the president called Gaiser “talented and intelligent”. A day earlier, Trump had urged the Senate to confirm his pending nominees, including federal judges.

The Northern District has a reputation as a destination for conservative litigants. In some of its divisions, plaintiffs can know in advance which judge will hear their case, University of Texas law professor Paul Gugliuzza told Bloomberg Law.

Gaiser leads the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which provides legal opinions for the executive branch. In April, he issued an opinion arguing that the Presidential Records Act was unconstitutional and that the president need not continue to comply with it. The law provides for the preservation of official presidential records.

In May, a federal judge found the law likely constitutional and issued a preliminary order requiring White House officials to comply. The order did not apply directly to Trump or Vice President JD Vance. An appeals court heard arguments in October, according to the American Historical Association, one of the groups challenging the Justice Department’s position.

Trump pointed to Gaiser’s time as Ohio’s solicitor general and his clerkships with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and federal appeals judges Neomi Rao and Edith Jones. As solicitor general, Gaiser represented Ohio before courts including the US Supreme Court. He also worked for Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, according to an earlier Senate questionnaire.

Nomination Notes reported that, in a judicial questionnaire, Gaiser said he had not personally tried a case to a verdict, judgment or final decision, though he had worked on or managed teams that had tried cases to judgment.

Texas senator John Cornyn told Bloomberg Law that he and fellow Republican Ted Cruz had recommended other candidates to the White House. “I’ll look at his record and make a decision, but this is not the usual process,” he said. Texas senators have historically used a judicial evaluation committee to vet candidates, but Bloomberg reported that it did not appear to have been involved in Gaiser’s selection.

According to the same report, Gaiser’s questionnaire said Cruz’s office contacted him about the post on 4 November and he spoke to Cornyn’s office two days later. A Senate Judiciary Committee aide told Bloomberg the panel had received nomination paperwork on 8 November. Whether the White House has formally submitted his nomination to the full Senate remains unclear; he would need the chamber’s confirmation to take the lifetime post.