Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) has taken opposing President Donald Trump’s nominees to the next level, this time voting against a fellow Alabamian for a position serving his home state.
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Montgomery’s Andrew Brasher, the solicitor general of the state of Alabama, to serve as U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama.
However, Jones voted “nay” on the confirmation, falling in line with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and joining all of his fellow Democrats in doing so.
This drew swift criticism from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).
The Senate just confirmed former AL Solicitor General Andrew Brasher to be U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of AL — the 99th Judge of the Trump Presidency@DougJones voted with the Democrats against this qualified Alabamian #ALsen #ALpoliticshttps://t.co/IFEQGfd29D
— The Senate Majority (@NRSC) May 1, 2019
Brasher has argued in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Alabama Supreme Court as the state’s solicitor general. Brasher has tried cases in federal and state courts and won two “Best Brief Award” honors from the National Association of Attorneys General. Before his appointment as solicitor general in 2014, he served for several years as deputy solicitor general.
Prior to joining the state attorney general’s office, Brasher practiced in the litigation and white collar criminal defense practice groups in the prestigious Birmingham office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. Upon graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk to Alabama’s Judge William H. Pryor, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Brasher earned his Bachelor of Arts with honors and summa cum laude, from Samford University, where he presently serves on the Board of Overseers, and his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Law Review and winner of the Victor Brudney Prize.
Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01), who is running for the Republican nomination to unseat Jones in 2020, also criticized his Brasher opposition.
Alabama’s Andrew Brasher is yet another excellent choice by President @realDonaldTrump to the federal court, and I’m glad the Senate confirmed him. Sadly, Doug Jones fell in line w/ Chuck Schumer and voted against his nomination. https://t.co/4LyWiJFqyF
— Bradley Byrne (@BradleyByrne) May 1, 2019
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall were vocal in their support for Brasher’s confirmation.
This was not the only Trump judicial nominee that Jones voted against on Wednesday, alone. The junior senator earlier in the day opposed the confirmation of Campbell Barker to be a federal judge for the Eastern District of Texas, again joining all of his Democratic colleagues.
Jones has previously been criticized for voting against high-profile Trump nominees, such as Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, CIA Director Gina Haspel, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
