Sen. Susan Collins has told NBC News and CNN that she will vote in favor of the appointment of Thomas Alvin Farr — a lawyer notorious for his “decades-long crusade to disenfranchise African Americans ” — as U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
With all 49 Senate Democrats and Republican Sen. Jeff Flake opposed to his nomination, the Senate is split 50-50 on appointing Farr, who will be up for a vote in the coming days. Vice President Mike Pence could break a tie in Farr’s favor.
Farr’s nomination cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee by a single vote last January. He had been previously hired by the North Carolina legislature to defend a “monster” voting I.D. law and state redistricting efforts that were officially described as “among the largest racial gerrymanders ever encountered by a federal court.”
Collins said her decision comes after Farr had “alleviated her concerns” during a meeting between the senator and nominee. Her support for Farr follows her recent votes to confirm U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, when she made a similar case about how Kavanaugh had quelled her concerns during a two-hour meeting, as well as other highly controversial judicial nominees .
Her vote for Kavanaugh likely contributed to a recent eight-point decline in the senator’s overall approval rating but a surge in Republican support.
The NAACP issued a statement condemning the nomination, and Poor People’s Campaign co-chair Rev. William Barber denounced Farr in Time as a nominee “with a 30-year record of white supremacy.”
(Top photo: Gage Skidmore)
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