By WILL WHATLEY, Alabama Daily News
The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Andrew Brasher as U.S. District Judge for the Montgomery-based Middle District of Alabama.
Brasher had served as the Solicitor General of Alabama. He was nominated to the federal bench by President Donald Trump in April 2018. A graduate of Samford University and Harvard law, Brasher previously clerked for Judge Bill Pryor at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Alabama’s senators were split on the 52-47 party-line vote. Republican Sen. Richard Shelby voted to confirm Brasher, while Democrat Sen. Doug Jones voted against confirmation.
Shelby praised the new judge as someone “well-suited” to the federal bench.
“His judicial temperament and vast legal experience make him well-suited to assume this new role,” Shelby said. “I congratulate him on this honor and am confident that his integrity and commitment to the rule of law will further contribute to the high standard of our nation’s judicial system.”
Jones declined to comment on his reasons for voting against the nomination.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall also praised Brasher and wished him well in leaving the AG’s office.
“It is hard to imagine anyone who is more qualified to take on the responsibility of a federal judgeship than Andrew Brasher,” said Marshall. “He brings to the federal bench impeccable professional credentials as Alabama’s Solicitor General and Deputy Solicitor General for the last seven years, during which time he successfully argued cases before Alabama Supreme Court judges and U.S. Supreme Court justices.”
Attorney General Marshall also announced today the appointment of Edmund LaCour Jr. to succeed Brasher as Solicitor General of the State of Alabama. A Dothan native who received his undergraduate degree from Birmingham-Southern College and attended Yale law school, LaCour clerked for Judge Bill Pryor at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, LaCour was a partner in the D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he represented numerous clients before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as courts of appeals and trial courts.