Thomas Farr

Thomas Alvin Farr was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 24, 1954.{{cite web|url=http://www.lawyercentral.com/thomas-a-farr-interactive-profile--20-392190.html|title=Attorney Thomas A Farr – Lawyer in Greenville SC|website=www.lawyercentral.com|access-date=December 4, 2018 }} He earned his Bachelor of Liberal Studies, summa cum laude, from Hillsdale College, where he was co-salutatorian. He received his Juris Doctor from the Emory University School of Law and a Master of Laws in labor law from the Georgetown Law.

After graduating from law school, Farr served as a law clerk to Judge Frank William Bullock Jr. of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Prior to entering private practice, he was an attorney with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. At the time of his death, he was a shareholder in the Raleigh office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. where his practice focused on employment matters and constitutional law.{{cite press release|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/5704/|date=July 13, 2017|work=whitehouse.gov|title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Fifth Wave of Judicial Candidates |via=National Archives|access-date=December 4, 2018 }}{{better source|date=December 2018}}

Farr was considered an expert in the field of gerrymandering and spoke at ALEC on the subject.{{cite news |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/alec-meeting-gerrymandering-audio-recording.html |title=How to Get Away With Gerrymandering: A leaked audio recording reveals how state lawmakers are taught to trash evidence, avoid the word gerrymander, and create an appearance of bipartisanship. |first=David |last=Daley |date=October 2, 2019 |work=Slate.com |access-date=October 9, 2019 }} Farr was a member of the Federalist Society from 1985.{{Cite web|work=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary |title=Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: Thomas Alvin Farr |url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Farr%20SJQ.pdf |access-date=4 July 2023 }}

{{See also|Voter suppression in the United States}}

Farr was accused of voter suppression towards African-American voters.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/us/politics/thomas-farr-judicial-nominee.html|title=Democrats Try to Derail Judicial Nominee They Call a Vote Suppressor|access-date=November 30, 2018 |date=November 27, 2018|work=The New York Times|first=Catie |last=Edmondson |language=en}} In November 2018, Republican Senator Tim Scott opposed Farr's nomination for a federal judgeship, citing a 1991 DOJ memorandum on Farr's involvement in the 1984 Jesse Helms campaign's alleged voter suppression against African-Americans.{{Cite news |first1=Seung Min |last1=Kim |first2=John |last2=Wagner |date=November 29, 2018 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/senate-postpones-vote-on-controversial-judicial-nominee-from-north-carolina/2018/11/29/fd0fcd12-f3cb-11e8-bc79-68604ed88993_story.html|title=Republican Sen. Tim Scott says he will block confirmation of Trump judicial nominee amid racial controversy|newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en|access-date=November 30, 2018 }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/11/29/671591929/trump-judicial-nominee-set-to-fail-amid-voter-suppression-charges|title=Trump Judicial Nominee Set To Fail Amid Voter Suppression Charges|work=NPR|access-date=November 30, 2018 |date=November 29, 2018 |first1=Jessica |last1=Taylor |first2=Kelsey |last2=Snell|language=en}}

In 2010, Farr advised the North Carolina General Assembly in what federal courts termed a "racial gerrymander" of the state's voting districts.{{cite news |last1=Sullivan |first1=Sean |title=Trump judicial nominee Thomas Farr advances in Senate amid racially charged controversy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-judicial-nominee-thomas-farr-advances-in-senate-amid-racially-charged-controversy/2018/11/28/459b0ca4-f322-11e8-aeea-b85fd44449f5_story.html |access-date=November 29, 2018 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=November 28, 2018}} Farr was involved with drafting the 2013 North Carolina voter I.D. law and helped legislators evaluate racial data requested from the North Carolina DMV, which showed that black voters disproportionately lacked driver's licenses.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/magazine/voting-rights-act-dream-undone.html |title=A Dream Undone |work=The New York Times Magazine |date=July 29, 2015 |access-date=December 6, 2018 |first=Jim |last=Rutenberg }}{{cite web |url=https://harvardlawreview.org/2017/04/north-carolina-state-conference-of-the-naacp-v-mccrory/ |work=Harvard Law Review |date=April 10, 2017 |title=North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP v. McCrory |access-date=December 6, 2018 }} The DMV data also "revealed that African Americans disproportionately used early voting, same-day registration, and out-of-precinct voting", all of which were curtailed by the law, while absentee voting, disproportionately used by white voters, was exempted from the voter ID requirements.{{cite court |litigants=NC State Conference of NAACP v. McCrory |vol=831 |reporter=F.3d |court=United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit |date=July 29, 2016 |url=https://www.leagle.com/decision/infco20160729103 |accessdate=December 6, 2018 |quote=This data revealed that African Americans disproportionately used early voting, same-day registration, and out-of-precinct voting, and disproportionately lacked DMV-issued ID... Not only that, it also revealed that African Americans did not disproportionately use absentee voting; whites did... SL 2013-381 drastically restricted all of these other forms of access to the franchise, but exempted absentee voting from the photo ID requirement.}} Farr defended the voting restrictions in court before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The appeals court struck down the law, writing that the law targeted African Americans "with almost surgical precision."{{cite news|last1=Amend|first1=Alex|title=From eugenics to voter ID laws: Thomas Farr's connections to the Pioneer Fund|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/12/04/eugenics-voter-id-laws-thomas-farrs-connections-pioneer-fund|access-date=January 15, 2018|work=Hatewatch|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|date=December 4, 2017}}

Farr represented Republican state legislators in lawsuits related to redistricting and voter identification changes which were struck down by a court as racially biased.{{Cite news|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/article174539786.html|title=Trump pick for NC judge accused of 'hostile record on African-American voting rights and workers' rights'|work=The Charlotte Observer |access-date=October 19, 2017|language=en |date=September 21, 2017 |first=Anne |last=Blythe }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.wunc.org/politics/2017-09-21/judicial-nominee-ill-follow-north-carolina-voter-id-ruling |title=Judicial Nominee: I'll Follow North Carolina Voter ID Ruling|agency=Associated Press |date=September 21, 2017 |access-date=October 19, 2017 |work=WUNC|language=en}} Newsweek described Farr as having a "history of working on voter suppression...part of a wider Republican effort that critics say disenfranchises African-Americans and the poor."{{cite news|last1=Nazaryan|first1=Alexander|title=President Trump Is Rewarding A Lawyer Who Has Fought To Block The Black Vote With A Plum Federal Judgeship|url=http://www.newsweek.com/trump-north-carolina-farr-voter-suppression-668649|access-date=January 15, 2018|publisher=Newsweek|date=September 21, 2017 }}

File:Recommended lawsuit against North Carolina Republican Party, Helms for Senate Committee, et al.pdf describing alleged suppression of minority voters.]]

In 1984, Farr was involved in the Jesse Helms Senate campaign. A 1991 memorandum from the Department of Justice under the George H.W. Bush administration stated that "Farr was the primary coordinator of the 1984 'ballot security' program conducted by the NCGOP and 1984 Helms for Senate Committee. He coordinated several 'ballot security' activities in 1984, including a postcard mailing to voters in predominantly black precincts which was designed to serve as a basis to challenge voters on election day."{{cite report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207163353/https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5302118/The-Department-of-Justice-makes-case-against.pdf |archive-date=2020-12-07 |url-status=live |url=https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/the-department-of-justice-makes-case-against-1990-helms-campaign-and-north-carolina-gop/3323/ |title=Recommended lawsuit against North Carolina Republican Party, Helms for Senate Committee, et al. under 42 U.S.C. 1971(b) and 42 U.S.C.1973i(b) |date=June 19, 1991 |via=The Washington Post |first1=John R. |last1=Dunne |authorlink=John R. Dunne |first2=Lee H. |last2=Rubin |work=Civil Rights Division |publisher=United States Department of Justice |access-date=December 9, 2018 }}{{rp|12}}

File:Gerald Hebert - Notes about 1990 Helms campaign "ballot security" program.png

In 1990, Farr served as the lead legal counsel on Jesse Helms' campaign. The campaign mailed two batches of postcards, totaling about 124,000, "virtually exclusively to black voters"{{rp|4}} warning "that residency requirements were strict and vote fraud was punishable by imprisonment." The first batch was sent "exclusively to the black voters who had a change of address associated with their name",{{rp|36}} while the recipients of the second batch were 93.1% African-American.{{rp|38}}

The DOJ sued Helms, saying that the mailers were intended to intimidate African-Americans from voting. As the campaign's legal counsel, Farr defended Helms in the DOJ lawsuit. Farr himself "denied any role in drafting the postcards and said he did not know about them until after the mailers were sent" and was "'appalled' when he found out about them."{{Cite news |first1=Seung Min |last1=Kim |first2=John |last2=Wagner |date=November 27, 2018 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gillum-abrams-speak-out-against-controversial-judicial-nominee-from-north-carolina/2018/11/27/574e56fe-f250-11e8-80d0-f7e1948d55f4_story.html|title=Fate of divisive judicial nominee from North Carolina uncertain amid criticism|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en|access-date=November 29, 2018 }}{{cite news |last1=Kragie |first1=Andrew |title=The Long, Bitter Fight Over Thomas Farr |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/senate-may-vote-thomas-farrs-judicial-nomination/576931/ |access-date=November 29, 2018 |work=The Atlantic |date=November 29, 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://indyweek.com/news/thomas-farr-may-known-jesse-helms-s-voter-suppression-tactics-let-on.-cost-federal-judgeship/ |title=Thomas Farr May Have Known More About Jesse Helms's Voter-Suppression Tactics Than He Let On. Should That Cost Him a Federal Judgeship? |first=Thomas |last=Goldsmith |date=November 22, 2017 |work=Indy Week |access-date=August 12, 2020 }} Gerald Hebert, a former Department of Justice investigator, contradicted Farr's denial, stating that according to "contemporaneous handwritten notes", Farr partook in a meeting planning the postcards.{{cite news |url=https://indyweek.com/news/archives/former-helms-lawyer-thomas-farr-lie-senate-judiciary-committee-sure-looks-way./ |work=Indy Week |first=Thomas |last=Goldsmith |date=November 15, 2017 |access-date=December 6, 2018 |title=Did Former Helms Lawyer Thomas Farr Lie to the Senate Judiciary Committee? It Sure Looks That Way. }}{{cite news |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/courts/reports/2017/11/08/442390/senate-rushing-confirm-trump-judges-back-voter-suppression/ |title=Senate Rushing to Confirm Trump Judges Who Back Voter Suppression |first1=Billy |last1=Corriher |first2=Michele L. |last2=Jawando |date=November 8, 2017 |work=Center for American Progress |access-date=December 6, 2018 }} The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund called upon the Senate to further question Farr about his apparent lack of candor.{{cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/thomas-farr-voter-intimidation-senate_us_5a0f0c98e4b0e97dffed03a2 |date=November 21, 2017 |title=Former DOJ Official Accuses Trump Judicial Pick Of Misleading Senate About Past Work |first=Sam |last=Levine |work=Huffington Post |access-date=January 9, 2019 }}{{cite press release |url=https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-calls-for-new-senate-judiciary-committee-hearings-for-brett-talley-and-thomas-farr |title=LDF Calls for New Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings for Brett Talley and Thomas Farr |work=NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund |date=November 16, 2017 |access-date=January 9, 2019 }}{{cite news |url=https://indyweek.com/news/archives/indy-s-report-judicial-nominee-thomas-farr-misleading-senate-committee-senator-dianne-feinstein-wants-answers/ |date=November 17, 2017 |access-date=January 9, 2019 |first=Thomas |last=Goldsmith |work=Indy Week |title=After the INDY's Report About Judicial Nominee Thomas Farr Misleading a Senate Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein Wants Answers }}{{cite news |url=https://abovethelaw.com/2017/11/judicial-nominee-may-have-lied-to-senate-about-role-in-racist-voter-suppression-effort/ |work=Above the Law |date=November 20, 2017 |title=Judicial Nominee May Have Lied To Senate About Role In Racist Voter Suppression Effort |access-date=January 9, 2019 |first=Joe |last=Patrice }} Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the criticisms of Farr “utterly false character assassination nonsense.”{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/us/politics/tim-scott-judicial-nominee-thomas-farr-race.html |title=Senator Tim Scott Sinks Thomas Farr's Judicial Nomination Amid Racial Controversy |work=The New York Times |first=Catie |last=Edmundson |date=November 29, 2018 |access-date=November 30, 2018 }}

Farr was nominated to a federal judgeship in both 2006 and 2007 by George W. Bush, but he never received a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.{{cite news|last1=Robertson|first1=Gary|title=Farr gets another crack at North Carolina federal judgeship |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/13/farr-gets-another-crack-at-north-carolina-federal-/|access-date=October 20, 2017|agency=Associated Press|work=Washington Times|date=July 13, 2017}}

On July 13, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Farr to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.{{cite press release|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/ten-nominations-sent-senate-today/ |title=Ten Nominations Sent to the Senate Today |date=July 13, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120202600/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/ten-nominations-sent-senate-today/|via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov |archive-date=January 20, 2021}} Farr was nominated to fill the seat vacated by Judge Malcolm Jones Howard, who assumed senior status on December 31, 2005.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} On September 20, 2017, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/09/20/2017/nominations |date=September 20, 2017 |title=Nominations |work=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary |access-date=October 12, 2020 }} On October 19, 2017, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–9 vote.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Results%20of%20Executive%20Business%20Meeting%2010-19-17.pdf|title=Results of Executive Business Meeting |date=October 19, 2017 |work=Senate Judiciary Committee}} On January 3, 2018, Farr's nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.{{cite report |url=https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2018/1/3/1 |title=Congressional Record, 115th Congress, 2nd Session Issue: Vol. 164, No. 1 — Daily Edition |work=Congressional Record |publisher=United States Senate |date=January 3, 2018 |access-date=December 4, 2018 |archive-date=December 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205003711/https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2018/1/3/1 |url-status=dead }}

File:Cory Booker at Thomas Farr protest.jpg at a protest opposing Trump's nomination of Farr in 2018.]]

On January 5, 2018, President Trump announced his intent to renominate Farr to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.{{cite press release |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-renomination-21-judicial-nominees/ |title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Renomination of 21 Judicial Nominees |date=January 5, 2018 |via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov |access-date=December 4, 2018 }} On January 8, 2018, his renomination was sent to the Senate.{{cite press release |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/nominations-sent-senate-today-2/ |title=Nominations Sent to the Senate Today |date=January 8, 2018 |via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov |access-date=December 4, 2018 }} Farr was unanimously rated as "well qualified" by the American Bar Association.{{cite news |last1=Whelan |first1=Ed |title=Schumer Smears Judicial Nominee Thomas Farr |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/schumer-smears-judicial-nominee-thomas-farr/ |access-date=November 28, 2018 |publisher=National Review |date=November 27, 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Blytheheand |first1=Anne |last2=Murphy |first2=Brian |title=3 Trump judicial nominees out. Now another faces scrutiny about work for Jesse Helms. |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article191254104.html |access-date=November 28, 2018 |publisher=The News & Observer |date=December 22, 2017}} On January 18, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Results%20of%20Executive%20Business%20Meeting%2001-18-181.pdf|title=Results of Executive Business Meeting |date=January 18, 2018 |work=Senate Judiciary Committee}}

Farr's nomination was opposed by the Congressional Black Caucus due to Farr's role as a lawyer defending North Carolina voting restrictions which were struck down by a court as racially biased. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Farr said that he disagreed with the Fourth Circuit panel's ruling and that "at the time our clients enacted those laws, I do not believe that they thought that were purposefully discriminating against African Americans." He added that if he were confirmed to the federal judiciary, he would follow the Fourth Circuit's ruling.

On November 28, 2018, the United States Senate invoked cloture on Farr’s nomination by a 51–50 vote, with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote.{{Cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1152/vote_115_2_00249.htm |date=November 28, 2018 |access-date=July 4, 2023 |title=On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on Thomas Alvin Farr, of North Carolina, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina)|website=senate.gov}} The following day, Republican Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona and Tim Scott of South Carolina opposed to Farr's nomination; joined all 49 Democratic Senators who opposed his nomination as well; the opposition from Flake and Scott assured that his nomination would be rejected.{{cite news|last1=Dumain|first1=Emma|last2=Murphy|first2=Brian|url=https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article222386255.html|title=Scott to oppose Farr nomination to federal bench in NC, ending chances of confirmation|work=The State|date=November 29, 2018|access-date=November 29, 2018}}

On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.

Farr died on April 1, 2024 at the age of 69, after a series of heart problems.{{cite news |last1=Doran |first1=Will |title=Thomas Farr, conservative lawyer behind decades of GOP political wins in North Carolina, dies at 69 |url=https://www.wral.com/story/thomas-farr-conservative-lawyer-behind-decades-of-gop-political-wins-in-north-carolina-dies-at-69/21359445/ |access-date=2 April 2024 |publisher=WRAL News |date=2 April 2024}}

• Donald Trump judicial appointment controversies

{{Reflist|30em}}

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• [https://www.oyez.org/advocates/thomas_a_farr Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court] from the Oyez Project
• {{Ballotpedia|Thomas_Farr|Thomas Farr}}

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