Judicial Nominee Tom Farr and the Left’s Smears

Written by Joseph A. Morris

President Trump’s nomination of my former assistant at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Thomas A. Farr, to be a Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina is finally coming to the floor of the U.S. Senate this week. It’s in the queue and the U.S. Senate may get to it this week.

Tom is a learned, thoughtful, kindly, even-tempered man. He has been an extremely accomplished and successful lawyer in public and private practice. Conservative virtues of humility, loyalty, prudence, and recourse to reason over emotion come naturally to him, and always have. He has courageously done his duty in representing his clients — even “controversial” (which is sometimes code for “conservative”) ones. His private life has been exemplary;  when sad circumstances left him a single father, he dutifully, joyfully, and successfully reared his children on his own from small childhood to adulthood. He is one of the most experienced and able of all the splendid judicial candidates nominated by President Trump. He was also nominated for the bench by President George W. Bush (whose term expired before the U.S. Senate acted on Tom’s prior nomination). Twice, then and now, the American Bar Association has given Tom its highest rating.

Tom is guilty of three sins: He is extremely bright; he has put his powerful brain to work in mastering a rigorous and persuasive Originalist approach to the United States Constitution and jurisprudence in general; and he loves this country.

For these reasons the left feels it must defeat him at by “any means necessary.” “Any means necessary,” as we have seen in other recent nomination fights, means “making stuff up.” The lies of choice about Tom Farr are that he is a racist and a person who seeks to disenfranchise African-American voters.

U.S. Senator Schumer beat that phoney drum on the U.S. Senate floor recently. The would-be governors of Georgia and Florida, Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum, emerged from the ruins of their recent failed campaigns to voice the same false charges.

Edward Whelan, a Harvard lawyer, a former Scalia law clerk, a long-time National Review blogger, the President-on-leave of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and — full disclosure — a client of mine as I have represented the Ethics and Public Policy Center in various matters, debunked the lies about Tom Farr nearly a year ago in an essay in National Review. You will find Ed Whelan’s essay linked and set forth below.

The U.S. Senate this week has a chance to confirm Tom Farr and thereby put a mensch (if one may apply that Yiddish term to a non-Jewish Tarheel) on the bench. It should seize that opportunity and strike a blow for justice.

Read more: Farr-Fetched Attack National Review

Take ACTION: Contact both of your U.S. Senators to encourage them to confirm the judicial nomination of Mr. Farr for the federal District Court. The U.S. Capitol switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the U.S. Senate office you request. For Illinois voters, please contact the two U.S. Senators from Illinois directly:

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin – Webform
(202) 224-2152 – Washington D.C. Office
(312) 353-4952 – Chicago Office
(217) 492-4062 – Springfield Office
(618) 351-1122 – Carbondale Office

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth – Webform
(202) 224-2854 – Washington D.C. Office
(312) 886-3506 – Chicago Office
(217) 528-6124 – Springfield Office
(618) 351-1551 – Carbondale Office

Joseph A. Morris is a Partner in the law firm of Morris & De La Rosa, with offices in Chicago and London. He maintains an active practice conducting trials and appeals in the areas of constitutional, business, labor and international law. He is a member of the Bars of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Illinois and several other courts. Mr. Morris served under President Reagan as Assistant Attorney General of the United States and Director of the Department of Justice Office of Liaison Services.

Mr. Morris is an alumnus of the College and the Law School of The University of Chicago. He is married to Kathleen Morris and resides in Chicago.