In a surprising mix of potential U.S. District judges, President Donald Trump today announced his first five judicial nominees in Texas including two people who were formerly nominated by former President Barack Obama and two lawyers who've worked for the First Liberty Legal Institute, a conservative religious freedom organization.

The list of Texans Trump nominated to the bench include:

• Walter David Counts III, a Midland U.S. Magistrate Judge, for a U.S. District Court bench in the Western District of Texas. Counts was also nominated to the bench by Obama late in his presidency, and formerly served as a federal prosecutor and as a Travis County assistant district attorney.