[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 180 (Wednesday, October 29, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S7801]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ricketts). Under the previous order, the 
Senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the 
following nomination, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Edmund 
G. LaCour, Jr., of Alabama, to be United States District Judge for the 
Northern District of Alabama.


                  Nomination of Edmund G. LaCour, Jr.

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm 
Edmund LaCour to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of 
Alabama.
  Mr. LaCour is another judicial nominee selected by President Trump 
for his extreme views. As the solicitor general of Alabama, Mr. LaCour 
has repeatedly put politics ahead of the rule of law.
  He has resisted the orders of Federal courts--including the Supreme 
Court--after they ruled against him and the State of Alabama in voting 
rights cases. His role in that litigation was not confined to a 
courtroom. After the Supreme Court recognized that Alabama's voting 
maps likely violated section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Mr. LaCour 
helped State legislators draw new voting maps. He pushed for the 
inclusion of so-called ``legislative findings'' and wrote talking 
points for lawmakers. Despite his best efforts, Federal judges again 
found that these maps violated the Voting Rights Act. Yet Mr. LaCour 
and the State continue to argue the case and challenge the rulings 
against them.
  Mr. LaCour has argued for extreme restrictions on abortion rights and 
the rights of transgender people. He has also aggressively advocated 
for the death penalty. Last year, Mr. LaCour argued in support of 
nitrogen suffocation--an untested and inhumane death penalty method--
which allowed Alabama to carry out the first execution in the world by 
nitrogen gas.
  And just last week, in another case that Mr. LaCour argued, Alabama 
executed Anthony Boyd by nitrogen suffocation. Mr. Boyd reportedly 
``convulse[d] and heave[d] for about 15 minutes before being pronounced 
dead.'' In her dissent from the Supreme Court's denial of a stay of 
execution, Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, 
concluded, ``Allowing the nitrogen hypoxia experiment to continue 
despite mounting and unbroken evidence that it violates the 
Constitution by inflicting unnecessary suffering fails to ` ``protec[t] 
[the] dignity'' ' of ` ``the Nation we have been, the Nation we are, 
and the Nation we aspire to be.'' ' ''
  Based on Mr. LaCour's record, I am concerned that he will continue to 
display his clear ideological preferences if he is confirmed to the 
bench.
  I oppose his nomination. I urge my colleagues to join me.