After high school, Elrod studied economics at Baylor University, graduating in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude. At Baylor, she was the Outstanding Graduating Senior of the Honors Program and was eventually named Outstanding Young Alumna. She went to Harvard Law School in 1989 and received her Juris Doctor in 1992, graduating cum laude. At Harvard Law School, she was a member of the Board of Student Advisers, an active member of the Harvard Federalist Society, and a finalist in the Ames Moot Court competition. She became a member of the State Bar of Texas in 1992.
In 2002, Governor Rick Perry appointed Elrod to be a judge on the 190th District Court in Harris County. She was elected to the judgeship in the 2002 general election, and again in 2006 when she ran unopposed. As a state district court judge, she presided over jury and bench trials involving civil litigation. Elrod remained on the Harris County bench until her confirmation to the Fifth Circuit.
In 2022, Elrod ruled that the SEC's in-house adjudication of securities fraud charges was unconstitutional under the Seventh Amendment, Article I, and Article II of the Constitution.[4] The Supreme Court affirmed her ruling on Seventh Amendment grounds in a 6-3 decision in 2024.[5]
^Jarkesy v. Sec. & Exch. Comm'n, 34 F.4th 446 (5th Cir. 2022), cert. granted, 143 S. Ct. 2688, 216 L. Ed. 2d 1255 (2023), and cert. denied, 143 S. Ct. 2690, 216 L. Ed. 2d 1256 (2023), and aff'd and remanded, No. 22-859, 2024 WL 3187811 (U.S. June 27, 2024).
^Sec. & Exch. Comm'n v. Jarkesy, 603 U.S. ___ (2024).