Lifetime Obama appointee on conservative circuit court to step down at age 49

Gregg Costa, an Obama appointee to the conservative 5th Circuit, announced Wednesday he plans to step down from his lifetime appointment, according to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. 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 told Texas Lawbook he was leaving to return to being a lawyer again. Costa, who is only 49, informed his judicial colleagues, law clerks and President Joe Biden this week that he plans to leave the bench in early August.

Fellow 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. His big claim to fame as a federal prosecutor in Houston was serving as lead counsel in the trial of convicted Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford in 2012. He was tapped by President Barack Obama, shortly before the Stanford verdict, to serve as a federal trial court judge, occupying a seat vacated by Sen. 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 picked Costa for the 5th Circuit because he had “displayed exceptional dedication to public service” for his entire career.