Trump Judicial Train Rolls on With Texas, Alabama Picks
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trump-judicial-train-rolls-on-with-texas-alabama-picks
Texas Deputy Solicitor General J. Campbell Barker, Alabama Solicitor General Andrew Brasher confirmed
California Democrat and 2002 presidential candidate Kamala Harris calls nominees “extreme”
J. Campbell Barker, who challenged Obama-era immigration and health policies for the state of Texas, was one of two Donald Trump nominees confirmed to the federal bench on Wednesday.
The Senate cleared the state deputy solicitor general for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas by a vote of 51 to 47. It then confirmed Alabama Solicitor General Andrew Brasher for the Middle District of Alabama, 52 to 47.
They were the first in a string of district court nominees scheduled for votes this week with the Republican-led Senate ramping up judicial confirmations after returning from its spring recess.
Trump could surpass the century mark for judicial confirmations, if all nominees on the docket this week are confirmed, as expected. This total includes his two Supreme Court appointments.
Sen. Kamala Harris of California, a member of the Judiciary Committee and a 2020 presidential candidate who has clashed with the White House over judicial nominations, took aim at both Barker and Brasher on Twitter.
They are “two extreme judicial nominees who have opposed women’s reproductive rights, as well as LGBTQ” and immigrant rights, she said.
Three nominees are scheduled for confirmation votes on Thursday.
Rodolfo Ruiz, nominated to the Southern District of Florida;
Raul Arias-Marxuach, nominated to the District of Puerto Rico;
and Joshua Wolson, nominated to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Voter ID, Gerrymandering
Barker has been a deputy solicitor general since 2015, and helped Texas obtain a nationwide injunction against the Obama administration’s immigration policy known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans.
He also defended Texas’s law requiring photo identification for voters and supported a challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
Brasher has argued three times at the Supreme Court, including a defense of Alabama in a lawsuit alleging racial gerrymandering.
The American Bar Association gave Barker its highest rating of “Well Qualified” and rated Brasher as “Qualified.”
Trump has appointed 59 district judges, 37 appeals court judges and two U.S. Supreme Court justices to date.
Barker clerked for federal judges in two circuits, who were appointed by presidents from different political parties.
He clerked for Second Circuit Judge John M. Walker Jr. while he was the chief of the court. Walker was appointed by Republican President George H.W. Bush.
Barker also clerked for William C. Bryson of the Federal Circuit. Bryson was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton.
Brasher clerked for Eleventh Circuit Judge William H. Pryor Jr., who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush.
More info & these images: https://www.heritage.org/judicialtracker