Alia M. Ludlum

Alia Moses (born January 6, 1962), formerly known as Alia Moses Ludlum, is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Early life and education Born in Eagle Pass, Texas, Moses graduated in 1983 from Texas Woman's University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting, and in 1986 from the University of Texas School of Law with a Juris Doctor.

Career Following law school graduation, Moses was an attorney in the Travis County Attorney's Office in Austin, Texas from 1986 to 1990. She was an assistant United States attorney and chief of the Del Rio office in the Western District of Texas from 1990 to 1997. She worked as a part-time mediator in private practice from 1997 to 2000.

Federal judicial service Moses began her federal judicial career as a United States magistrate judge when she was appointed to a four-year part-term in 1997. In 2000, she was promoted to a full-term magistrate judge.

Recognition In 2026, a portrait of her was unveiled in the headquarters of the federal judiciary’s Western District of Texas, in San Antonio. All federal judges who become chief judges are thus recognized, with a portrait permanently hanging in the courthouse that is the headquarters for the district which they are assigned.