One of Hightower’s competitors in the March 3 Republican primary, Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl, announced his first ad on Wednesday. Hightower and Carl are joined in the Republican Primary by State Rep. Chris Pringle (R-Mobile), businessman Wes Lambert and Army veteran John Castorani.

As of September 30, Hightower had $447,611 in his campaign coffers. Carl, who is investing a significant amount of his personal fortune, had $741,307 on hand and Pringle reported $215,437. The fundraising totals for the fourth quarter of 2019 will be available January 30.

Hightower, who placed fourth in the 2018 Republican primary for governor, has led all of the polls in the AL-01 congressional race that have been released to the public so far. He has also been endorsed by former U.S. Senator and presidential contender Rick Santorum (R-PA) and the conservative group Club for Growth.

There are three contenders in the AL-01 Democratic primary, but the district leans very heavily Republican.

Watch:

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@yellowhammernews.com or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.

• While at a U.S. Senate debate held in North Alabama, the U.S. Senate candidates answered questions, one of which was if marijuana should be legalized or laws should be changed federally. They didn’t seem very keen on the idea.
• Former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville gave the impression that he could be open to medical marijuana as long as they “prove” it’s worth it, but stated, “If we ever put marijuana on our streets legally, it’s over.” U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) said that because “we’ve taken God out of the center of our lives” there have been more issues with drug and alcohol abuse.

5. Byrne thinks Trump will speak out in Alabama’s GOP Senate primary

• President Donald Trump hasn’t yet said much publicly about the U.S. Senate race in Alabama, but in a radio interview, U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) said Trump is “paying very close attention.” Byrne added that Trump has some rough feelings about former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ candidacy.
• While Sessions has said that people don’t bring up his recusal to him on the campaign trail, Byrne said voters “bring it up with me all the time.” Byrne also mentioned that people are upset with Sessions for getting into the race, but Byrne also said he expects Trump will eventually speak out.

4. Bond revocation bill is announced

• A new proposed constitutional amendment will allow judges to deny bond to violent criminal offenders in Alabama after the recent murder of Aniah Blanchard by career criminal Ibraheem Yazeed. If passed, prosecutors can ask for a hearing that would present evidence that the defendant is a threat to the community and a judge will then decide.
• Blanchard’s killer now faces two capital murder charges in Blanchard’s death, but the catalyst for this amendment is the fact that he was out on bond after being charged with kidnapping and attempted murder charges. If he had been in jail, Blanchard would be alive but current law only allows for no bond in capital murder cases.

3. Marshall urging the Senate to reject impeachment

• In Washington, D.C., Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a letter with the U.S. Senate urging they reject the articles of impeachment on obstruction of Congress and abuse of power against President Donald Trump.
• Marshall was joined in signing the letter by 20 other attorney generals from the United States. While at a press conference to discuss the letter, Marshall said that based on everything he’s previously seen in a courtroom that “to now hear the House say that they are not prepared” only goes to show that “they have no case.”

2. Schumer’s Alabama senator is doing what Schumer wants

• On the first day of the U.S. Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump, U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) did the most unsurprising thing and voted six-for-six in line with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
• Despite all of Jones’ comments leading up to the trial where he insisted that he’s not going to cast partisan votes, he voted strictly along party lines. The votes were to keep Democratic amendments to the trial from being tabled.

1. Biden won’t testify and there will be no trade

• While the impeachment prattles along with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) declaring the 2020 election may be stolen, former Vice President Joe Biden has announced that he will not be testifying while Chuck Schumer has declared that any trade involving Hunter Biden is off the table.
• The “experts” who get paid to cover this trial seem to think there are some magic words that Schiff can’t utter that will lead to Republicans calling the witnesses they want with nothing in exchange but this is not going to happen.

At Senior Bowl Week practice on Wednesday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Saban, though, told reporters without prompting that he still considers Hurts as one of his players — indeed, a member of the Crimson Tide family.

Yet, things gotten even more real from there when Saban and Hurts greeted each other on the field at Ladd-Peebles shortly afterwards.

In a Hallmark moment that was captured by members of the media, Saban and Hurts share an embrace, each beaming from ear to ear.

WATCH: #Alabama HC Nick Saban reunites with former Crimson Tide QB @JalenHurts after today’s @seniorbowl practice. pic.twitter.com/8klYhYyL7J

— Alex Byington (@_AlexByington) January 22, 2020

Hurts could be heard at first inquiring how Saban is doing, followed by the coach requesting to take a picture with Hurts.

“I’m proud of you,” Saban then told him.

The quarterback, who was called a “natural leader” this week by Bama’s outgoing defensive back Jared Mayden, subsequently complimented Saban’s fashion ensemble, especially his overcoat.

“Miss Terry get it for you?” Hurts inquired.

“Oh yeah,” Saban responded with a smile, prompting a chuckle from Hurts.

“Tell her to get me one,” Hurts quipped.

Saban then showed Hurts another piece of his wardrobe under the coat, leading Hurts to comment, “Man, she got you styling.”

“She got that, too,” Saban confirmed.

Saban then posed for another picture — this time with all of his players playing at the Senior Bowl, Hurts included.

The photo featured Hurts, Mayden, Terrell Lewis and Afernee Jennings:

It was announced Wednesday that outgoing Bama defensive tackle Raekwon Davis will not play in the Senior Bowl due to an injury.

Hurts will wear a two-sided helmet during Saturday’s Senior Bowl game; one side is a replica of his iconic No. 2 Bama helmet, and the other has the Oklahoma Sooners logo on it.

Get tickets to the Senior Bowl game here.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

The catalyst for Auburn was a breakout performance from freshman guard Devan Cambridge, who went for 26 points, including a six of nine performance from behind the three-point line. Coming into Wednesday’s contest, Cambridge had been averaging 10.4 points per game and 25% from three-point range.

Between Cambridge finding his stroke, and Auburn’s ability to really lock down on defense in the final 20 minutes, the game went comfortably toward Auburn for most of the second half.

The Tigers improved to 16-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC.

Following its two losses last week, Auburn had dropped to a predicted No. 4 seed in the latest NCAA tournament prediction from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Lunardi’s “Bracketology” is a weekly feature slotting teams according to similar metrics used by the tournament selection committee to make its seedings.

Head coach Bruce Pearl’s squad faces off next with Iowa State on Saturday morning in Auburn Arena as part of the Big 12/SEC challenge. The Cyclones are 9-9 on the season and currently seventh in the Big 12 standings.

When President Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009, only one of these 13  federal appeals courts — the Ninth Circuit — was controlled by activist Democratic appointees. When he left office, nine of 13 circuits were controlled by Democratic appointees. Despite President Trump’s historic gains on the federal courts, if he is not reelected in 2020, the courts would flip back to the left — placing at risk his greatest legacy.

Most federal judges serve for several decades, and so their actions continue to impact the country long after the President who appointed them leaves office. For example, nearly half the federal circuit judges still hearing cases in Chicago were appointed by President Reagan. These numbers are the reason why some say that judicial appointments are President Reagan’s greatest legacy. And he certainly made an impact on the Supreme Court, elevating Justice Rehnquist to Chief Justice, who led the “the Rehnquist Revolution” that began to return power to the states, appointing Justice Scalia, one of the greatest jurists in our nation’s history. He also appointed 83 circuit judges, surpassing each of his four successors. But many of these judges are no longer on the bench and those who continue to serve are nearing retirement.

While President Reagan’s judicial legacy is at its twilight, President Obama’s judicial legacy has just begun to impact the country. And while President Reagan understood that our constitutional system depends on an impartial judiciary that will interpret the law as written, President Obama openly sought activist judges who would promote liberal policy preferences that Congress and the American people would not adopt. His Supreme Court nominees — Justices Sotomayor and Kagan — both of whom I opposed — are two of its younger members and over half of his appellate judges could feasibly sit on the courts for the next 40 years.

During my time as the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, I led Republicans in successfully blocking President Obama’s most extreme judicial nominees who exhibited leniency for sex offenders and violent criminals promoted radical left-wing policy agendas like “constitutional welfare rights, rejected originalism and the limited role of the judiciary, and were openly hostile towards the right to bear arms, religious liberty, private property rights (to name just a few). So when President Trump was elected, he had over 100 judicial vacancies to fill and he has delivered, nominating two outstanding Supreme Court justices and over 50 appellate judges.

Indeed, just a few years ago, there were many federal judicial vacancies in Alabama — vacancies that President Obama tried to fill with progressive appointees. Alabama’s federal courts — as we know them — were one election away from a dangerous transformation. But Senator Shelby and I stood together through eight grueling years of the Obama presidency and blocked all but two of his nominees to our federal bench — including one appointee to a powerful appeals court. Fortunately, a lot has changed since President Trump was elected. In less than half the time President Obama was in office, President Trump has appointed five times that many highly qualified lawyers to sit on Alabama federal courts — including the first female judge in Montgomery and the first African-American judge in Mobile. More great Alabama judges are on the way.

One of President Trump’s first appeals court nominees was Judge Kevin Newsom of Birmingham. Before his nomination, Judge Newsom was a partner at one of Alabama’s oldest law firms and served as the chief appellate lawyer for the state of Alabama, where he argued in support of the Ten Commandments and against the use of federal law to prosecute abortion protestors. This past November, President Trump nominated Judge Andrew Brasher of Montgomery to the same court. Just 38 years of age, Judge Brasher also served as Alabama’s top appellate lawyer, where he tirelessly defended Alabama laws from lawsuits brought by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. Once confirmed, Judge Brasher could sit on this court for the next 50 years. Judges Newsom and Brasher are — as President Reagan said of one of his judicial appointees — the kind of judges the American people want on the federal courts; judges who believe in the rule of law, who revere the Constitution and whose sense of fairness and justice are above reproach.

While President Trump has done great work filling judicial vacancies, whoever is elected president in 2020 will be responsible for filling even more vacancies. President Obama’s judges have upheld Obamacare, forced transgender bathrooms in public schools, struck down reasonable voter identification requirements, endlessly blocked the enforcement of our immigration laws and taken over schools and police departments. Whoever the Democrat party nominates to run against President Trump will appoint judges who are even more radical and will accelerate the left’s march to eviscerate the Constitution. With a third of the federal appellate judiciary hanging in the balance, the American people must decide whether they want more of President Trump’s originalists or President Obama’s progressives confirmed to the federal bench for life.

I promise you this — if I am so fortunate as to return to the U.S. Senate, I will continue the work I started as a leading voice in support of the President’s historic efforts to make the judiciary great again.

Jeff Sessions served as the 84th Attorney General of the United States, as Senator from Alabama, and as Ranking Member on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.