Vanessa Diane Gilmore (born October 26, 1956) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. She was appointed to this position by President Bill Clinton in 1994. At that time, she was the youngest sitting federal judge in the United States. She was also the first graduate of the University of Houston to be appointed to the federal bench. Education and career Gilmore was born in St. Albans, New York and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Hampton University in 1977, and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Houston Law Center in 1981. Upon graduation in 1981, Gilmore began a 13-year tenure at the Houston, Texas law firm of Vickery, Kilbride, Gilmore and Vickery where she specialized in civil litigation. Gilmore also became an active member of the Houston civic community, serving on the boards of a number of civic and charitable organizations. She also became involved in the Texas political arena while serving as counsel and teacher in the area of election law. She worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston College of Law teaching research and writing in 1984. Her civic activities outside of the courtroom brought her to the attention of Governor Ann Richards, who in 1991 appointed Gilmore to the Texas Department of Commerce Policy Board, where she also served as chairperson from 1992 to 1994. Her appointment to that board made Gilmore the first African-American to serve on this board responsible for increasing business and tourism and job training development in Texas. In 1993, she also served as chairperson of Texans for NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement). In this capacity, she worked regularly with diplomatic leaders, including the President of Mexico, to increase U.S. trade opportunities. Federal judicial service On March 22, 1994, Gilmore was nominated by President Clinton to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas created by 104 Stat. 5089. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 8, 1994, and received her commission the following day. In 2005 she presided over the Enron Broadband trial and over the environmental case relating to the building of the Galveston cruise ship terminal. Gilmore retired from active service on January 2, 2022. Writings Motivated in part by her own experiences as