On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved the lifetime appointment of anti-voter North Carolina attorney Thomas Farr as a federal judges in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The vote was 11-9, along party lines.
Thomas Farr has devoted much of his four-decade legal career to restricting the voting rights of Black North Carolinians. Farr is famous for defending GOP mailers aimed at intimidating Black voters during Jesse Helms’ 1992 campaign. He is currently the chief attorney for the NC GOP’s effort to disenfranchise voters of color, students, and the poor.
Farr’s nomination is especially insulting because it’s for the long-vacant seat that was denied to two highly-qualified African-American female nominees who Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) blocked from receiving a hearing.
In calling on North Carolinians to oppose the nomination, Democracy North Carolina’s Bob Hall said, “We must work to make sure that the rights of Black voters are protected by the judiciary and placing Thomas Farr on the bench would be a decidedly great setback for democracy in North Carolina.”