Trump picks lieutenant governor’s son for prosecutor post
President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated former state district judge Ryan Patrick to become the chief federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Texas, a sprawling region where the trafficking of drugs, firearms and illegal immigration is rampant.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Patrick, the son of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, will be the U.S. attorney in a district on the Texas coast and border area that represents more than 8 million residents in Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley.
Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn — who both serve on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary that will hold hearings on the U.S. attorney nominations — issued statements saying they will work to quickly confirm Patrick’s nomination.
“I’m honored to be nominated by President Trump with the support of Sens. Cornyn and Cruz,” Patrick told the Houston Chronicle. “I look forward to being confirmed by the Senate.”
The important federal post has been vacant since March when Kenneth Magidson — along with dozens of Obama-era appointees around the country — was forced to resign by the Trump administration. Abe Martinez, a former FBI special agent and University of Houston Law Center adjunct professor, has served as acting U.S. attorney.
Ryan Patrick, who worked as a Harris County assistant district attorney for six years before being appointed to a state district court bench by Gov. Rick Perry in 2012, was a popular jurist and became a front-runner for the federal prosecutor’s job.
Harris County Republican Party Chairman Paul Simpson congratulated Patrick on the nomination and commended the president’s choice.
“Throughout his career, Ryan has shown himself to be a man of high integrity who works very hard and will do a great job,” Simpson said. “We look for-
ward to him serving the citizens of the Southern District.” High-traffic district
His father, Dan Patrick, is a former radio talk show host who was elected to the second-highest position in the Texas executive branch in 2015. That followed eight years in the Texas Senate representing the 7th district in northwest Harris County.
Dan Patrick is an outspoken supporter of President Trump. During last year’s presidential race, the elder Patrick chaired Cruz’s campaign but switched to the Trump campaign when Cruz dropped out of the race.
“Jan and I are obviously very proud of our son Ryan,” the lieutenant governor said in a statement released Wednesday. “His record as a prosecutor and criminal court judge make him uniquely qualified for this position and we are very happy for him.”
The Southern District of Texas has historically been one of the busiest in the country in terms of the number of federal felony cases filed, due primarily to its proximity to a number of major trafficking corridors that cross the Texas-Mexico border.
The district, which stretches along the coast from Chambers County to Laredo, is a major hub for drug and human trafficking going north as well as firearms and cash being transported south into Mexico.
Cruz and Cornyn, the two Texas Republicans who nominated both Patrick and Grayson County District Attorney Joseph D. Brown to the federal posts, issued statements Wednesday after the White House announcement. Will ‘do a fine job’
Brown, who is in his 17th year as district attorney in the north Texas county, was nominated to the U.S. attorney post for the Eastern District of Texas, an area encompassing Beaumont, Lufkin, Tyler and Texarkana.
“Both Joe Brown and Ryan Patrick have demonstrated clear reverence and respect for the law through-out their careers as public servants,” Cornyn said in a statement. “I look forward to moving their nominations forward and getting them confirmed as soon as possible.”
Cruz also applauded the president’s decision, praising the two appointees’ careers in public service.
Defense lawyers around Houston had kind words about Patrick’s reputation for fairness as a felony court judge.
“We all hope he’s going to do a good job and use the judicial temperament that he used on the bench,” said Tucker Graves, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. “I think he’s going to get in there and do a fine job.”
Ryan was a well-respected jurist at the Harris County criminal courthouse, despite being one of the youngest.
Ryan Patrick lost his bid for re-election in the 2016 general election to Democratic candidate Robert Johnson. Since then, he has been in private practice as the managing partner of The Law Office of Ryan Patrick, PLLC. Patrick graduated from Baylor University and South Texas College of Law in Houston.