Obama appointee to leave 5th Circuit Court
Gregg Costa, an Obama appointee to the conservative 5th Circuit, confirmed he told President Joe Biden on Wednesday that this summer he plans to step down from his lifetime appointment.
The vacancy on the circuit court as well as one on the federal trial court created by Clinton-appointee Vanessa Gilmore’s retirement on Jan. 2 mark a rare opportunity for the Biden administration to put — or at least try to put — progressive judges on the bench in Texas.
Costa said he’s retiring because he misses being a trial lawyer and plans to find a job at a Houston firm where he can defend civil and criminal clients.
While the news was surprising to some in his orbit, he said, “I think the people who know me the best aren’t surprised because they know I love battling it out in court.” Costa famously prosecuted convicted Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford in 2012.
The appellate judge, who is only 49, informed his colleagues, law clerks and the president this week that he plans to leave the bench in early August.
“The hard part is leaving public service,” he said. He said he has a “deep belief ” in the importance of the judiciary, adding he doesn’t see his departure as a negative development because “it will give another talented lawyer a chance to serve.”
Texas jurist Carolyn Dineen King, who was appointed to the 5th Circuit by President Jimmy Carter, described her departing colleague as “a superb judge, a five-star lawyer and a wonderful human being.”
“He will be a gift to whomever he ultimately decides to go with,” she added. “All of us on this court will miss him.”
After law school at University of Texas, Costa clerked for a Washington, D.C., circuit judge and later became a clerk for Chief U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. He then worked as a federal prosecutor in Houston, serving as lead counsel in the Stanford case.
Costa was tapped by President Barack Obama to serve as a federal trial court judge, occupying a seat vacated by U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey. The Senate confirmed him the following April. He presided over cases in the Galveston and Victoria courts for two years.
Costa was swiftly elevated to the circuit court that hears federal appeals from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The Senate voted 97-0 to confirm him to position formerly held by U.S. Judge Fortunato Benavides in May 2014. Obama said at the time that he’d picked Costa for the 5th Circuit because he had “displayed exceptional dedication to public service” for his entire career.
By the time of his retirement in August, he will have served on the New Orleansbased 5th Circuit Court for eight years.
On the matter of leaving a lifetime spot so young, Costa said, “I’ve never had the idea that you have to stay until you’re done.” He said he’d been thinking about this decision for a long time.
“It’s been the honor of a lifetime to be a federal judge, but I realize I’m better suited to being an advocate,” Costa said.
Gilmore, who serves on the board of the DePelchin Center and has been an advocate for adoption, has significantly more longevity on the federal bench. She was sworn in in 1994 at age 37, making her the youngest federal judge appointed to the bench. She retired after the new year at the age of 65.
The more common path than those taken by Gilmore and Costa is for judges to stick around until they’re retirement age and then assume senior status, which means you can take on a smaller caseload before retiring.
The lifetime appointees in the Southern District of Texas have voted to move Gilmore’s bench to Laredo courthouse so the new appointee can help with the backlogged border docket, according to Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal.
There are no other federal judicial vacancies across Texas besides Gilmore and Costa.