When U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson of Amarillo took senior status this month, she ended her career as Texas’ longest serving active federal judge, with 35 years of service.
But the well-deserved retirement of Robinson, who was appointed in 1979 by then President Jimmy Carter, calls attention to another big number. Texas now has 12 current or future federal judicial vacancies—including two seats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit—caused by a rash of retirements by the state’s longest serving judges.
