Trump kicks off 2026 with 4 new judicial nominees

By Nate Raymond

Jan 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has named his first nominees for federal judgeships in 2026, including a former chief counsel for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and a lawyer involved in fighting class action "abuse."

Trump announced the nominees in a series of posts on his social media platform late Tuesday, moving forward with his push to put a conservative stamp on the judiciary by filling the few vacancies available in his second term.

The nominees include Andrew Davis, a partner at the law firm Lehotsky Keller Cohn, to fill an Austin-based seat on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, a state where he previously worked as an assistant solicitor general.

Before joining the law firm, Davis was chief counsel to Cruz on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In that role, Davis advised the Republican senator on judicial nominees and issues including the limits on congressional, presidential and agency authority, according to his law firm biography.

Trump said he is also nominating Chris Wolfe, a Texas state court judge, to fill another vacancy in the Western District of Texas and become the next judge in Waco, after U.S. District Judge Alan Albright relocated to Austin.

The Waco courthouse during Albright's tenure became a major hub for patent litigation, at one point hosting a quarter of all patent cases in the country, prompting bipartisan criticism from some senators for policies that they said encouraged this extreme concentration.

To fill a vacancy in the Eastern District of Louisiana, Trump nominated Anna St. John, the president and general counsel of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, a conservative, free-market focused legal nonprofit co-founded by Ted Frank.

The New Orleans-based lawyer has worked since 2015 at Frank's Center for Class Action Fairness, which is now part of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, aiding in its crusade against class action settlements it says provide money to lawyers but little to none to consumers.

"She's going to be a great judge," Frank wrote on X.

St. John also represented a conservative education group that supported the Trump administration's successful effort in August to fend off a challenge by Democratic-led states to its cancellation of grants that support increasing diversity in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

"Anna has a strong record of tirelessly fighting to protect Free Speech, champion Religious Liberty, and keep men out of women’s sports," Trump wrote on social media.

Trump also nominated John Shepherd, a judge on the 13th State Judicial District in El Dorado, Arkansas who had previously served as the district's prosecuting attorney, to join the federal bench in the Western District of Arkansas.

Trump described him as a "terrific" college football player who is "TOUGH and SMART." He is the son of U.S. Circuit Judge Bobby Shepherd, who was appointed by Republican former President George W. Bush to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Trump's ability to further reshape judiciary in 2026 hindered by few vacancies