The U.S. Senate has approved the nomination of Haynes and Boone partner Jeremy Kernodle as a U.S. district judge in Tyler, bolstering an Eastern District of Texas bench that is loaded with complicated civil cases but doesn't have nearly enough jurists to hear all of them.

The Eastern District currently hosts one of the most active patent dockets in the nation, especially in the Marshall, Texarkana and Tyler Division, where litigants have been attracted by experienced jurists, streamlined docket rules and a reputation for plaintiff-friendly juries.

However, the Eastern District has lost four of its eight active judges in recent years to either retirement or senior status, prompting the U.S. Judicial Conference to declare a judicial emergency in the district because of bench vacancies and a high caseload.

The conference defines a judicial emergency in districts that have vacancies and a weighted caseload of more than 600 per judge. Eastern District judges are currently handling weighted caseloads that are nearly 1,000 per judge.

Kernodle, who chaired Haynes and Boone's False Claims Act/Qui Tam practice group and is the current president of the Dallas chapter of the Federalist Society, will replace veteran U.S. District Judge Michael H. Schneider, who took senior status in 2016.

Kernodle did not return a request for comment.

Haynes and Boone managing partner Tim Powers heaped praise on Kernodle's confirmation as a judge.

“Jeremy is a phenomenal addition to the federal bench in Texas, combining skill, judgment and a true judicial temperament,” Powers said. “Our loss will be the judicial branch's gain.”

President Donald Trump has two other Eastern District judicial nominees awaiting Senate confirmation: J. Campbell Barker, a deputy Texas solicitor general who would replace retired U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis; and Michael Truncale, a partner in Beaumont's Orgain Bell & Tucker, who would replace U.S. District Judge Ron Clark, who took senior status in February.

Trump has not yet nominated a candidate to replace U.S. District Judge Richard Schell of Plano, who took senior status in 2015. Last year, the White House withdrew the nomination of Jeff Mateer to replace Schell, after Mateer's comments that transgender children were part of “Satan's Plan” were widely reported.

Rodney Gilstrap, chief judge of the Eastern District of Texas, said he's ready for Kernodle to start work.

“We're certainly anxious and excited to get Judge Kernodle on the bench and get him busy and certainly there others we are excited about coming but realize that is out of our hands and out of our control,'' Gilstrap said.

While Kernodle and the other Trump nominees for the Eastern District do not have significant patent experience on their resumes, that shouldn't be an issue, said Michael C. Smith, a Marshall patent attorney and former past president of the Eastern District of Texas Bar Association.

“There is plenty of work to go around and it's not a problem that he doesn't have patent experience,” Smith said of Kernodle. “Very few of the [current] Eastern District judges had patent experience before they came on the bench.''

And if anything, the Eastern District could use Kernodle's qui tam experience, as those kinds of cases are on the rise as the government continues to file health care fraud cases in the jurisdiction, Smith said.

“That is experience that is not going to be wasted,” Smith said.