Paul Coggins (Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP)

Former Dallas U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins has joined Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP as a partner, The Dallas Morning News reports. Coggins was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas from 1993-2001. During his tenure as the district’s top federal prosecutor, Coggins twice served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Council and served as its vice chairman.

At the firm, Coggins will head the national white collar criminal defense and internal investigations practice. Coggins previously was at Fish & Richardson PC in Dallas.

John Cornyn (gov)

With the White House unwilling to consider his pick for Dallas U.S. Attorney, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Thursday eased up in his fight to get Sarah Saldana nominated, The Dallas Morning News reported. Although he still prefers the North Texas Assistant U.S. Attorney for the job, Cornyn said during a conference call with reporters that he is willing to consider other candidates, The Morning News reported.

Cornyn and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) have been squaring off with Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) over whether Republicans or Democrats will be in charge of recommending U.S. Attorney candidates to the White House. Cornyn has threatened to block any nominee who was not approved by a screening committee set up by the Republican senators. Doggett has insisted that Texas Democrats will have the final word.

During the Thursday call, Cornyn’s tone seemed to soften. “The ball is really in the White House’s court,” the senator said. He said he would characterize his discussions with the White House as “a negotiation,” The Morning News reported.

Doggett said on Thursday said in a statement: ”Since there are a number of well-qualified individuals for U.S. attorney, I have no doubt this will be resolved from our delegation’s recommendations.”

According to Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D), Texas Democrats are unwilling to recommend Saldana, The Morning News reported. While they have yet to publicly announce their choices for the Dallas-based job,  Democrats have recommended Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Terri Moore and Dallas civil lawyer Roger Williams to President Obama, The Morning News has reported.

Cornyn spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said the senator is waiting for an answer from the White House as to why Saldana is not being considered, The Morning News reported. “She’s an arguably liberal Democrat who’s been endorsed by [abortion rights group] NARAL and a lot of liberal organizations who Senator Cornyn does not have anything in common with,” McLaughlin said, adding, “It’s not like it’s Antonin Scalia,” he added, referring to the conservative Supreme Court justice.

Time was, members of the president’s party steered U.S. Attorney recommendations to the White House. But in Texas, a state proudly resistant to, er, convention, Sen. John Cornyn (R) is threatening to block anyone but Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldana for the U.S. Attorney post in North Texas. It’s the latest salvo in Cornyn’s long-running feud with Texas House Democrats over who’s in control of the process.

The Dallas Morning News has the story.

Cornyn and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison plucked Saldana out of a group of candidates evaluated by their screening committee. Saldana heads the Fraud and Public Corruption Division in the Dallas-based Northern District.

“It’s the president’s prerogative to nominate anybody he wants,” Cornyn said, echoing comments he made to us in July. “But it’s the prerogative of the Senate to decide whether those individuals will be confirmed.”

Cornyn’s remarks come a day after Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) slipped two names to the White House for U.S. Attorney in the state’s Western and Eastern districts. Read our coverage here.

The Austin Democrat made the recommendations on behalf of the Texas Democratic House delegation, which has “completed its consultation with the White House and has reached agreement,” according to a news release from Doggett’s office.

White House counsel Greg Craig had tried to mediate this feud, without much success, and in a manner that managed to infuriate the House Democrats back in March. But Craig is reportedly on his way out of the White House after he was blamed for botching the politics of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility closing. It’s unclear who’s in charge of this mess now down at 1600 Pennsylvania.

According to the Morning News, Cornyn and Huchison also sent the White House a list of names on Wednesday – for all four U.S. Attorney posts in Texas. We will let you know when we find out who they recommended.

Bur for now, we return to the Northern District.

The Morning News reports:

Texas House Democrats, including Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas, have rejected Saldana in favor of Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Terri Moore and Dallas civil lawyer Roger Williams. Other names could be considered, and a spokesman for the chairman of the House Democratic delegation, Lloyd Doggett, said Wednesday that “consultations” are ongoing.

It’s unclear why the delegation snubbed Saldana, whom the newspaper describes as “a candidate with strong Democratic credentials.” She played a key role in a Dallas City Hall corruption trial that some Democrats cast as politically motivated, but Johnson said her involvement was not a factor.

Cornyn interviewed Moore and Williams but said he couldn’t support them for the post. “We thought Sarah Saldana was the best candidate, and that’s why we sent her name to the White House,” he told the Morning News. “My hope is the White House will choose her and make that appointment. At this point I’m not prepared to support any other individual.”