President Donald Trump announced he is nominating Corey Landon Maze for a judgeship in the Northern District of Alabama and Andrew Lynn Brasher in the Middle District of Alabama.
Maze served as Alabama solicitor general. He is a deputy Alabama attorney general. Born in Gadsden, Alabama, on Jan. 4, 1978, Maze graduated summa cum laude from Auburn University in 1996 and cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 2003.
After graduation, Maze joined the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, working under then-AG William “Bill” Pryor as assistant attorney general in Criminal Trials and Appeals.
In 2008, Attorney General Troy King selected Maze to be the solicitor general of Alabama.
In 2011, he became special deputy attorney general for civil litigation, a position he still holds.
Maze has been nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. This seat opened on June 22, 2018, when Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins moved to senior status.
Maze was nominated in the last Congress, but his confirmation was blocked by Republican Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake’s blockade on judicial nominees.
The Vetting Room predicts that he will be confirmed eventually. Flake refused to allow judicial nominees to be confirmed unless legislation protecting Robert Mueller’s position was passed.
Republicans refused to comply with the dissident GOP senator’s demands, meaning that dozens of Trump nominees to the federal bench were not acted upon in November and December.
Andrew Lynn Brasher was born in Milan, Tennessee, on May 20, 1981. Brasher moved to Alabama to attend Samford University where he graduated summa cum laude in 2002. Brasher went on to Harvard Law School, graduating cum laude in 2006.
Upon graduation, Brasher clerked for Judge William “Bill” Pryor on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He then joined the Birmingham office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP as an associate. In 2011, Brasher was appointed by Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange to be deputy solicitor general. Brasher served in that capacity until 2014, when he was appointed solicitor general. Brasher continues to serve in the office.
Brasher has been nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the middle district of Alabama. This seat opened on Aug. 1, 2015, when Judge Mark Fuller resigned after his arrest for domestic violence.
Brasher is a Republican and worked as a volunteer on the 2010 campaigns of Luther Strange to be attorney general and Bradley Byrne to be governor of Alabama. Brasher served on the Trump Transition Team coordinating criminal justice policy with the incoming administration.
Brett Talley was originally nominated by Trump for this office but withdrew facing heavy opposition.
The Vetting Room is predicting that Brasher will still likely attract significant opposition, and it is likely that every Democrat will vote in opposition, but Brasher remains a favorite to be confirmed.
The full list of nominations sent to the Senate is available here.
