Senate CONFIRMS Former Clarence Thomas Clerk to Replace Democrat Federal Judge

BREAKING: The Senate just confirmed Kasdin Miller Mitchell, 49-44, to a lifetime seat on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

She clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas, is replacing a Democrat-appointed judge, and will take the bench imminently.

Trump… pic.twitter.com/Z2VzoxUNkZ

— NewsForce (@Newsforce) September 17, 2026

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The Senate has confirmed President Trump’s nominee Kasdin Mitchell as a judge for a Texas federal court

This is a FLIP

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Mitchell replaces a progressive Clinton appointed judge

President Trump is reshaping the federal judiciary, filling the courts with young conservatives https://t.co/L8YCGuYN85

— Michael Casey (@MichaelCasey_) September 17, 2026

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The vote gave President Donald Trump his 55th confirmed judicial appointment of his second term, as the White House looks to fill as many court vacancies as possible before the year’s end amid the looming risk that Democrats retake the Senate in the November 3 midterm elections.

Those 55 add to 234 previous appointments Trump made in his ⁠first term to the lower courts and the US Supreme Court, helping shift the judiciary’s ideological balance to the right.

Mitchell will join a Texas court that is dominated by other Republican-appointed judges, which made it a popular forum for conservative litigants and business groups challenging Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda during his term.

Of the court’s 10 active judges, only one was appointed by a Democrat and seven were named by Trump, including Mitchell.

A Federalist Society member in her early 40s, Mitchell served as assistant press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush before attending Yale Law School and became an appellate lawyer in the Alabama attorney general’s office after graduating.

She went on to clerk for now-Chief US Circuit Judge William ‌Pryor of ⁠the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals before later clerking from 2016 to 2017 for Thomas, the senior member of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority.

She joined Kirkland & Ellis in 2017, where she has represented companies ranging from Meta Platforms to 3M. According to her financial disclosure report, she earned nearly $3.48 million as a partner at the firm last year.

While at Kirkland, she worked ⁠alongside now-former partner Paul Clement as counsel to the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association in a landmark US Supreme Court case that reshaped modern firearms regulation.

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NOW: The Senate has just CONFIRMED Trump nominee Kasdin Miller Mitchell — former Clarence Thomas clerk — as US District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, 49-45

LET'S GO! Another activist judge canceled out

LIFETIME appointment to the Northern District of Texas… pic.twitter.com/u0lFjzdmYE

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 17, 2026

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NOW: The Senate has just CONFIRMED Trump nominee Kasdin Miller Mitchell — former Clarence Thomas clerk — as US District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, 49-45

LET’S GO! Another activist judge canceled out

LIFETIME appointment to the Northern District of Texas

She also clerked for Judge William Pryor on the 11th Circuit

Trump nominated her in May and specifically cited her record on the Second Amendment and Religious Liberty

Senate Judiciary cleared her 11-10 this summer before today’s full confirmation. She’s in! Every Trump judicial confirmation is a win!

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