Not to be outdone by the Texas Democratic Congressional Delegation's recommendations today regarding who should fill several U.S. district judgeships and U.S. attorney positions in Texas, U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn have sent their recommendations on who should fill Texas' four U.S. attorney slots. The two Republican senators from Texas sent the Oct. 7 letter to White House Counsel Greg Craig. Hutchison and Cornyn can block nominees in their home state through what is known as the blue slip process. While the Democrats didn't make a full list of recommendations for all four U.S. attorney posts, the Republican senators did. Both sides agreed on one recommendation: Michael W. McCrum, of counsel in the San Antonio office of Thompson & Knight, for U.S. attorney in the Western District of Texas. However Hutchison and Cornyn actually made two recommendations for the Western District U.S. attorney job; they also suggested U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Pitman of the Western District of Texas. The senators sent a press release this evening that included a copy of the letter they sent to Craig. What follows is a portion of that letter:
Gregory B. Craig, Esq.
Office of the White House Counsel
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. Craig,
Thank you for collaborating with us in identifying the strongest candidates for service in the Federal Judiciary in our state. As a result of our evaluations, as well as the assessment of our Federal Judiciary Evaluation Committee, we have identified the following candidates that we believe are of the highest caliber to recommend to the President for the following positions:
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas:
Sarah Saldana
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas:
Judge John Burch Stevens, Jr.
John Malcolm Bales
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas:
Kenneth Magidson
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas:
Judge Robert Pitman
Michael McCrum
We believe that these individuals would carry out the duties and responsibilities of the Office of U.S. Attorney with professionalism and a commitment to justice. Thank you again for your efforts, and we look forward to working with you on these nominations. . . .
-- John Council
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