Trump nominates two for 4th Circuit

President Donald Trump tapped two South Carolina natives to fill vacancies on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals April 26.

Trump named a judge recently picked for the U.S. District Court in South Carolina and the man responsible for prosecuting Dylann Roof on federal hate crime charges.

Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. was nominated just weeks after he was confirmed to the district court in March to fill a vacancy left by Judge William Byrd Traxler Jr. of Greenville, who takes senior status at the end of August.

“Throughout his entire career, he has given back to the profession, so we are not surprised that he has been asked to make another commitment to help administer justice in the federal bar,” Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough managing partner Jim Lehman said in a statement about Quattlebaum.

Quattlebaum was picked by Trump to fill a district court vacancy in late 2017, and he was confirmed to the bench March 1 in a 69-28 Senate vote.

Quattlebaum was previously a partner in the Greenville office of Nelson Mullins where he practiced complex business and civil litigation in federal court, according to a press release from the White House. From 2011 to 2012, he served as president of the South Carolina Bar.

He received his B.A. from Rhodes College and his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he served as a member of the South Carolina Law Review.

“Marvin has been a wonderful partner and made a remarkable contribution to our firm, the Bar and the community,” Lehman said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Julius “Jay” Richardson has served as a federal prosecutor since 2009 and currently works as a deputy criminal chief. He has been nominated to replace 4th Circuit Judge Dennis Shedd, of Columbia, who took senior status in January.

He is best known for his prosecution of white supremacist Dylann Roof, who was convicted of federal hate crimes after he shot and killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston in 2015. Roof is currently on death row.

Prior to his work as a federal prosecutor, Richardson handled complex civil litigation for three years as an associate with Washington D.C. firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel. Before that he served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and to Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

He is a Columbia resident and a graduate of Vanderbilt University. He earned his law degree from the University of Chicago, where he was editor of the University of Chicago Law Review.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, spoke highly of both candidates in a written statement, praising them for their qualifications and ideals.

“Marvin Quattlebaum and Jay Richardson are solid conservatives who are highly respected by the South Carolina legal community,” Graham said. “They will be great additions to the Fourth Circuit.”