Senate confirms Barker and Brasher to district courts in Texas and Alabama

The Senate yesterday confirmed J. Cam Barker, by a 51 to 47 vote, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.  Barker has been the Deputy Solicitor General of Texas since 2015.  He previously was with Yetter Coleman LLP in Houston for 5 years.  The Senate also confirmed Andrew L. Brasher to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama by a 52 to 47 vote.  Brasher, a 2006 graduate of Harvard Law School, has been Solicitor General of Alabama since 2014.  Both nominees faced opposition from some groups for their work as Solicitors General, include Barker’s defense of Texas’s voter ID law and Brasher’s defense of the imposition of the death penalty on a defendant with alleged mental health issues.