[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 11, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S977-S978]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Andrew Lynn Brasher

  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I rise today in the U.S. Senate in support 
of Andrew Brasher of Montgomery, AL, whom I recommended and was later 
nominated by President Trump to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for 
the Eleventh Circuit, a very important post.
  I believe Judge Brasher to be an esteemed choice for this high honor. 
Formerly Alabama's solicitor general and currently a U.S. district 
judge for the Middle District of Alabama, Judge Brasher is no stranger 
to the courtroom. I have the utmost regard for his vast legal ability 
and his commitment to the rule of law, and I believe he is well suited 
for this respected position.
  Judge Brasher excelled academically from a young age. He earned his 
bachelor of arts with honors from Samford University in Birmingham, AL, 
where he graduated summa cum laude and met his wife Julia there. He 
currently serves on the school's board of overseers.
  Judge Brasher went on from Samford University in Birmingham to 
graduate cum laude from Harvard Law School and was the first in his 
family to receive his juris doctorate. While in law school at Harvard, 
he was a member of the Harvard Law Review and received the Victor 
Brudney Prize. The Presiding Officer probably recalls this, but this is 
a high honor at Harvard granted annually at the law school to the best 
student paper on a subject associated with corporate governance. This 
is a very high honor.
  Upon graduation, Judge Brasher served as a law clerk to Judge William 
H. Pryor, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 
making him neither a stranger to the courtroom nor to the Eleventh 
Circuit. Following his clerkship with Judge Pryor, Andrew Brasher 
practiced law in Birmingham, AL, with the law firm Bradley Arant Boult 
Cummings. During his time with Bradley Arant, he worked in the firm's 
litigation and white-collar criminal defense practice groups. He 
eventually joined the Alabama attorney general's office, serving for 
several years as the deputy solicitor general and then went on to 
become the solicitor general for the State of Alabama.
  Judge Brasher's experience speaks for itself. He has argued and won 
cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
Eleventh Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Alabama. While serving as 
solicitor general of the State of Alabama, Judge Brasher won two Best 
Brief Award honors from the National Association of Attorneys General. 
This accomplishment, as the Presiding Officer knows,

[[Page S978]]

is no easy feat. He proved to be an exceptionally skilled attorney, but 
his ambitions did not stop there.
  In 2018, the Presiding Officer probably will remember, I recommended 
and President Trump nominated Andrew Brasher to serve on the U.S. 
District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. Last year, he was 
confirmed by the full Senate to sit on the court as a Federal district 
judge.
  Since his confirmation, Judge Brasher has served the State of Alabama 
and the Nation with integrity and purpose. I am confident that in his 
new capacity, he will continue to do so. I believe Judge Brasher is 
very worthy of this nomination. His judicial temperament and respect 
for the law, as it is written, will help him exhibit, I believe, 
impartiality and fairness with tact.
  President Trump, I believe, has made the right decision in selecting 
Judge Brasher for this important job. I believe he will be an asset to 
our judicial branch on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
  I am hopeful that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will vote 
to confirm Andrew Brasher without reservation later today. I remain 
confident that his dedication to justice will contribute to the 
respected standards of our Nation's judicial system. I wish Judge 
Brasher and his wife Julia--along with their two boys, Hank and Drew--
all the best as they take on this new opportunity and responsibility.
  I yield the floor.


                          judicial nominations

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this week, Senator McConnell has scheduled 
votes on five judicial nominees.
  Some of these nominees, I will oppose, including 11th Circuit nominee 
Andrew Brasher. Some, I will support, including John Kness, a nominee 
for the Northern District of Illinois, who was part of a bipartisan 
package of nominees in my State.
  But first, I want to point out that, under this Republican majority, 
the Senate simply doesn't do legislation any more. There are literally 
hundreds of bills that have passed the House of Representatives and are 
gathering dust on the Senate desk.
  These bills deal with critical issues like reducing prescription drug 
prices, protecting pensions, securing our elections from foreign 
interference, and closing gaps in our gun background check system, but 
time and again, when Senate Republicans have the opportunity to bring 
bills to the floor, they take a pass. They just don't want to do the 
hard work of legislating. Last year, the Senate voted on only 22 
amendments all year. I remember when we used to vote on that many 
amendments in a single day.
  Sadly, under this Republican majority, the Senate is becoming an 
appendage of the White House and no more than a conveyor belt for 
President Trump's judicial nominees. We are abdicating our 
responsibility to legislate on matters of importance to the American 
people.
  The Constitution assigns the Senate important roles as part of a 
coequal legislative branch. We are not rising to meet these challenges. 
When we look at this week's nominations votes, we are reminded yet 
again of how the Senate is abdicating its authority.
  Andrew Brasher is the 18th Trump circuit court nominee who has been 
moved through the Senate Judiciary Committee without blue slips from 
both home State Senators. For a century, blue slips served as a 
critical check in the system, helping ensure that Senators, as the 
elected representatives of their State's citizens, have a role in 
choosing the Federal judges who will serve lifetime appointments in 
their State.
  But Republicans, who used blue slips to obstruct many of President 
Obama's nominees, cast aside the blue slip once President Trump came 
into office. Now, circuit court nominees are routinely being rammed 
through the Senate over the objections of home State Senators. Some of 
these nominees are lightly qualified, to put it nicely. Some have 
barely practiced law in the State in which they have been nominated to 
serve. Some have barely seen the inside of a courtroom.
  Today's nominee, 38-year-old Andrew Brasher, was confirmed as a 
district court judge last year without bipartisan support. Less than a 
year later, he is being put forward for the 11th Circuit. A former 
solicitor general of Alabama, he worked on controversial efforts to 
restrict voting rights, limit reproductive rights, and undermine gun 
safety laws.
  But beyond the controversial advocacy that he undertook on behalf of 
his clients, Andrew Brasher also made comments in his personal capacity 
that call into question his impartiality and temperament. This includes 
a 2015 blog post he wrote in opposition to same-sex marriage and a 
speech he gave at a 2014 pro-life political rally where he said, ``The 
ACLU and Planned Parenthood want a fight and we will give them one.''
  I will oppose the Brasher nomination, and I will also oppose Alaska 
district court nominee Joshua Kindred, who has a lengthy record of 
opposition to environmental protections. Mr. Kindred once described 
environmentalists as being driven by ``passionate ignorance.''
  I will vote in support of the nomination of John Kness to the 
Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Kness is the final part of a package 
of four Illinois district court nominees that was agreed upon between 
myself, Senator Duckworth, the Illinois Republican congressional 
delegation, and the White House. It is a good bipartisan package.
  Mr. Kness is a graduate of Northwestern and Northwestern Law and a 
former Assistant U.S. Attorney. He is currently the general counsel for 
the College of DuPage. He is diligent, thoughtful, and principled, and 
I urge my colleagues to support his nomination.

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