Matthew J. Kacsmaryk
Biography. Kacsmaryk received his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from Abilene Christian University in 1999 and his Juris Doctor with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003. From 2003 to 2008, he was an associate in the Dallas office of Baker Botts, where he focused on commercial, constitutional, and intellectual property litigation. From 2008 through 2013, he was an Assistant United States Attorney (federal prosecutor) in the Northern District of Texas where he was lead counsel in over 75 criminal appeals and co-counsel in high-profile criminal and terrorism trials. In  2013, under the Obama Administration, Kacsmaryk received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security for his work in "United States v. Aldawsari". He was Deputy General Counsel to First Liberty Institute. He has been a member of the Fort Worth chapter of the Federalist Society since 2012. He has been a member of the Red Mass Committee for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Forth Worth. Federal judicial service. On September 7, 2017, President Trump nominated Kacsmaryk to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the  Northern District of Texas, to the seat vacated by Judge Mary Lou Robinson, who assumed senior status on February 3, 2016. On December 13, 2017, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On January 3, 2018, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. On January 5, 2018, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Kacsmaryk to a federal judgeship. On January 8, 2018, his renomination was sent to the Senate. On January 18, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote . The American Bar Association rated Kacsmaryk "qualified" for the nomination (a ranking below "well qualified"). However, Senate Democrats and a number of LGBT advocacy groups opposed his nomination due to his writings and comments on LGBT rights and women's contraceptive rights. He has worked on religious liberty cases opposing certain LGBT protections in housing, employment and health care. He has referred to homosexuality as "disordered", and to being transgender as a "delusion" and a "mental disorder". He opposes the "Roe v. Wade" Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in the United States. He opposed the legalization of premarital sex . On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. On January 23, 2019, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Kacsmaryk for a federal judgeship. His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day. On February 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On June 18, 2019, the Senate voted 52–44 to invoke cloture on his nomination. On June 19, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by a vote of 52–46. He received his judicial commission on June 21, 2019. Judge Kacsmaryk  currently presides over the Amarillo Division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which encompasses twenty-six counties in the Texas Panhandle. In 2021, Kacsmaryk ordered the reinstatement of a Trump administration policy that required that asylum seekers wait outside U.S. territory while their claims are processed. In Kacsmaryk's order, he said that the Biden administration had ended the policy without fully considering the consequences.