Justice Scalia once ridiculed the coastal elites on his Court who fail to represent the "vast expanse in-between." Somewhere in that expanse is the city of Lubbock, Texas. Home to Texas Tech University, Lubbock is a five hour drive to Albuquerque or Dallas.
At present, there is one active District Court Judge in the Lubbock Division of the Northern District of Texas, Judge James Wesley Hendrix. Hendrix spent many years working in the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. He started as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. In 2012, he became Chief of the Appellate Division. In this capacity, he coordinated with the DOJ Criminal Appellate Section, as well as the Office of the Solicitor General. In 2015, he served on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee. For those with short memories, all of these promotions occurred during the Obama Administration.
In March 2016, President Obama nominated Hendrix to serve as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Texas. A hearing was held in September 2016, but his nomination expired in January 2017 at the end of the Congress. Two years later, President Trump nominated Hendrix to the same court. He was reported out of committee by a 22-0 vote, and was confirmed by an 89-1 vote.
