- Todd Butler has been nominated by President Trump to succeed Judge Leslie Southwick on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Senate Republicans look to fast-track White House judicial nominees with Democrats soon to take the majority in the chamber.
Todd Butler will sit for a nomination hearing Tuesday in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, one day after President Donald Trump (R) officially sent the nomination to the Senate.
Trump announced in October that he was nominating Butler, a partner at Phelps Dunbar, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Butler is a graduate of Mississippi State University where he majored in Business Administration before attending Mississippi College School of Law. He has taught courses as an adjunct law professor and is the past Chairman of the Mississippi Bar’s Appellate Practice Section.
Senate Republicans are looking to fast-track many of the White House’s judicial nominees before Democrats take over the majority in January.
Mississippi’s U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) have expressed support for Butler’s nomination, saying last month that Butler ” is an excellent pick for the federal bench” and that he “is a credit to his home state.”
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Butler would succeed Judge Leslie H. Southwick, who has elected to take senior status.
Butler was the Judicial Law Clerk for Southwick.
Tuesday’s nomination hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee can be viewed here.
