Thomas Farr
Thomas Alvin Farr is a shareholder in the Raleigh, North Carolina-based office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.
On July 13, 2017, President Donald Trump (R) nominated Farr to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. President George W. Bush (R) also nominated Farr in 2006, but the U.S. Senate took no action on his nomination. On January 3, 2019, Farr's nomination was returned to the president.
Judge Malcolm Howard vacated the seat on December 31, 2005. As of January 2019, the seat was the longest current district court vacancy in the federal judiciary.[1][2][3][4][5]
Education
Farr earned his bachelor's degree from Hillsdale College in 1976, where he was a summa cum laude graduate and co-salutatorian of his graduating class. He earned his J.D. from Emory University's of School of Law in 1979 and his LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1983.[1][4]
Professional career
Prior to joining Ogletree Deakins, Farr was an attorney with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. He also served as counsel to the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. Farr clerked for Judge Frank W. Bullock, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.[1]
Federal judicial nomination
Eastern District of North Carolina (2017)
- See also: Federal judges nominated by Donald Trump
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| Nominee Information |
| Name: Thomas Alvin Farr |
| Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina |
| Progress |
| Returned 539 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: July 13, 2017
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| ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified (with one abstention)
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| Questionnaire: Questionnaire |
| Hearing: September 20, 2017
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| QFRs: QFRs (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: October 19, 2017
|
 Confirmed:
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| Returned: January 3, 2019
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Farr was nominated by President Donald Trump (R) on July 13, 2017, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina vacated by Malcolm Howard on December 31, 2005. The American Bar Association rated Farr Unanimously Well Qualified with one abstention. Hearings on Farr's nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 20, 2017, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on October 19, 2017.[1][3]
Farr's nomination was returned to the president and subsequently resubmitted in January 2018. Grassley reported the nomination a second time on January 18. On January 3, 2019, Farr's nomination was returned to the president.[6][7]
Opposition and support
Opposition
On November 29, 2018, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced he would not support Farr's nomination. Scott announced his opposition after The Washington Post published a 1991 memo about a postcard campaign for the 1990 campaign of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). In the memo, the U.S. Department of Justice characterized the postcard campaign as "designed to intimidate and threaten black voters throughout the State of North Carolina in order to discourage them from participating in the November 6, 1990 general election." Farr was a lawyer for the Helms campaign at the time. He denied knowledge of the postcards.[8][9]
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) also opposed the nomination. Flake said he would oppose any judicial nominee unless the Senate approved legislation related to special counsels.[10]
Senate Republicans held a 51-49 majority. With all 49 Senate Democrats already opposed, Scott and Flake's opposition effectively ended Farr's nomination.[10]
Democratic lawmakers and groups like the NAACP identified two reasons for their opposition: (1) Farr's defense of district boundaries in North Carolina in 2011, which the state supreme court later ruled were subject to racial gerrymandering, and (2) Farr's defense of a 2013 law requiring photo IDs to vote, reducing early voting days, and ending same-day registration.[11]
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, "Every senator here, including our Republican friends, should be disturbed that Mr. Farr has been involved, often directly, in multiple attempts to disenfranchise minority voters."[12] The director of the NAACP's Washington bureau, Hilary Shelton, said, "Farr's lifetime crusade is to disenfranchise African-Americans and deprive them of their rights."[11]
Support
North Carolina Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, both Republicans, supported Farr's nomination. They cited his well qualified rating from the American Bar Association.[11] Writing in The Hill, Tillis said Farr was "the subject of a coordinated and viciously dishonest smear campaign" that had "absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Farr’s actual qualifications."[13] Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) also supported Farr, saying he was "an attorney doing his job working for different clients."[14]
Eastern District of North Carolina (2006)
Farr was first nominated to succeed Judge Howard on the Eastern District of North Carolina by President George W. Bush on December 7, 2006. Under provisions of Rule XXXI, paragraph six of the standing rules of the Senate, Farr's nomination was returned to the president on December 9, 2006. President Bush resubmitted Farr's nomination on January 9, 2007. The American Bar Association rated Farr Unanimously Well Qualified for the nomination. No action was taken by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Farr's nomination and his nomination was returned to the president on January 2, 2009. Judge Howard's seat has been vacant since Howard elected to take senior status beginning on December 31, 2005.[15][16][17]
See also
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
- United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The White House, "President Donald J. Trump announces fifth wave of judicial candidates," July 13, 2017
- ↑ The White House, "Ten nominations sent to the Senate today," July 13, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 United States Congress, "PN 749 — Thomas Alvin Farr — The Judiciary," accessed July 14, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ogletree Deakins, "Thomas A. Farr," accessed July 14, 2017
- ↑ United States Courts, "Current Judicial Vacancies," accessed July 14, 2017
- ↑ Under Senate Rule XXXI, paragraph 6 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, pending nominations are returned to the president if the Senate adjourns sine die or recesses for more than 30 days. Congressional Research Service, "Senate Consideration of Presidential Nominations: Committee and Floor Procedure," April 11, 2017
- ↑ Congress.gov, "PN1412 — Thomas Alvin Farr — The Judiciary," accessed November 28, 2018
- ↑ The Washington Post, "The Department of Justice makes case against 1990 Helms campaign and North Carolina GOP," accessed December 4, 2018
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Sen. Tim Scott says he will oppose Trump’s nominee for North Carolina judgeship," November 29, 2018
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 CNN, "Republican senator effectively sinks nomination of controversial judicial pick Thomas Farr," November 30, 2018
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 NBC News, "Senate GOP taking up judicial nominee some call 'worst of the litter,' hostile to minority rights," November 26, 2018
- ↑ The News & Observer, "After bitter debate, Thomas Farr nomination scheduled for vote Wednesday," November 27, 2018
- ↑ The Hill, "The partisan politics of personal destruction," January 17, 2018
- ↑ NBC News', "Controversial Trump judicial nominee in peril of Senate defeat," November 28, 2018
- ↑ United States Congress, "PN 2206 — Thomas Alvin Farr — The Judiciary," accessed July 14, 2017
- ↑ United States Congress, "PN 14 — Thomas Alvin Farr — The Judiciary," accessed July 14, 2017
- ↑ American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III judicial nominees, 110th Congress," accessed July 14, 2017
