--- title: Sen. Tim Scott to Oppose Trump Judicial Nominee Thomas Farr description: Sen. Tim Scott said in a statement Thursday that a Justice Department memo made public this week "shed new light on Mr. Farr’s activities." canonical: https://time.com/5467504/tim-scott-opposes-judicial-nominee-thomas-farr/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-29T23:30:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:09:58.333Z article:section: Politics og:title: GOP Sen. Tim Scott to Oppose Controversial Trump Judicial Nominee Thomas Farr, Likely Dooming His Nomination og:description: Sen. Tim Scott said a new Justice Department memo "shed new light on Mr. Farr’s activities" og:url: https://time.com/5467504/tim-scott-opposes-judicial-nominee-thomas-farr/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8680049d4a04736/69894051e76ad2a152633a67/sen-tim-scott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3240 og:image:height: 1823 og:image:alt: Frederick Douglass's Birthday Honored On Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GOP Sen. Tim Scott to Oppose Controversial Trump Judicial Nominee Thomas Farr, Likely Dooming His Nomination twitter:description: Sen. Tim Scott said a new Justice Department memo "shed new light on Mr. Farr’s activities" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8680049d4a04736/69894051e76ad2a152633a67/sen-tim-scott.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # GOP Sen. Tim Scott to Oppose Controversial Trump Judicial Nominee Thomas Farr, Likely Dooming His Nomination > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b9ad1965-7780-4112-8fc9-1b3b4a155b2d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Laura Litvan / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Laura Litvan / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 29, 2018 11:30 PM UTC  Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), speaks at the Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Birth of Frederick Douglass, in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol, on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018\. Scott announced Thursday that he would block Thomas Farr's judicial nomination. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), speaks at the Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Birth of Frederick Douglass, in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol, on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018\. Scott announced Thursday that he would block Thomas Farr's judicial nomination. NurPhoto—NurPhoto via Getty Images by [Laura Litvan / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Laura Litvan / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 29, 2018 11:30 PM UTC (Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump’s nomination of Thomas Farr for a federal judgeship is likely doomed after a Republican senator said he’ll vote against the North Carolina lawyer whose past work included defending state election laws that courts said discriminated against black voters. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina said in a statement Thursday that a Justice Department memo made public this week “shed new light on Mr. Farr’s activities.” As a result, he said, “I concluded that I could not support Mr. Farr’s nomination.” Scott joins GOP Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has said he’ll oppose all judicial confirmations until the Senate votes on a bill protecting special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian election interference. In addition, all 49 Senate Democrats oppose Farr’s confirmation. The Senate advanced Farr’s nomination Wednesday on a 51-50 procedural vote with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a tie. Scott, the only black Republican senator, had voted to move the nomination forward but said at the time he hadn’t decided how to vote on final confirmation. In July, Scott’s opposition to Trump appellate court pick Ryan Bounds over his college writings on diversity and rape forced withdrawal of the nomination. The district court seat has been open since 2005\. It remained unfilled throughout Barack Obama’s presidency because Republicans never held hearings on the two black women he nominated to fill the vacancy. Since Trump came to power, the GOP-led Senate has confirmed two Supreme Court justices, 29 appellate court judges and 53 district court judges. ### ‘Voter Suppression’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a Senate floor speech earlier Thursday, “There is simply a preponderance of evidence that Mr. Farr was involved – often intimately – in decades of voter suppression in North Carolina.” Schumer said that “has to be disqualifying for a seat on the federal bench.” As a lawyer, Farr represented the late Senator Jesse Helms’s 1992 campaign against Justice Department complaints of voter intimidation after it sent postcards to more than 125,000 voters in mostly black precincts warning of strict residency requirements and of imprisonment as a penalty for voter fraud. Farr said he had no role in creating the postcards. Decades later, the North Carolina Legislature’s GOP leaders hired Farr to help defend 2011 election boundaries that were ultimately struck down by federal courts as unlawful racial gerrymanders. Farr also helped defend a 2013 state law that cut the number of early voting days, required photo identification to vote, and eliminated same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting. A federal appeals court ruled that the state didn’t offer sufficient evidence of in-person voter fraud and said the law targeted black voters “with almost surgical precision.” Farr told senators at his confirmation hearing that he didn’t believe the laws deliberately discriminated against blacks, but said that as a judge he would follow the appellate court decision. Farr was nominated to the district court in 2006 by President George W. Bush, but didn’t receive a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. This time, the committee advanced his nomination on a party-line vote. –With assistance from Steven T. Dennis. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5467504/tim-scott-opposes-judicial-nominee-thomas-farr/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5467504/tim-scott-opposes-judicial-nominee-thomas-farr/"},"headline":"GOP Sen. 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