Birmingham attorney Kevin Newsom is the latest Alabamian to receive a high-profile appointment from the Donald Trump administration.
On Monday, Trump nominated Newsom, Alabama’s former solicitor general who now chairs the appellate group at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Birmingham, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
The 45-year-old Newsom, if approved, would succeed Montgomery-based Judge Joel Dubina, for the seat that covers Alabama, Georgia, and parts of Florida.
Newsom was among the 10 judicial nominees named by the White House this week.
According to YellowHammerNews.com, Newsom graduated from Harvard Law School in 1997, where he served as Harvard Law Review’s articles editor. He earned his undergraduate degree at Birmingham’s Samford University in 1994, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0.
After graduating law school, Newsom clerked for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and then for U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter from 2000-2001.
Newsom later joined Covington & Burling’s Washington-based appellate litigation practice group, where he served for two years before becoming Alabama solicitor general in 2003, appointed by then-Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor. In 2004, Pryor was named to the 11th Circuit, and was on Trump’s list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees.
A biography online says Newsom personally argued four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and over 19 federal appellate court cases, as well as several in state appellate courts.
In 2007, Newsom stepped down as solicitor general to join Bradley Arant, calling the “the SG gig … the job of a lifetime.”
At Bradley Arant, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Newsom twice to the U.S. Judicial Conference’s advisory committee on appellate rules, making him one of only three private practice attorneys to serve on the committee.
“Kevin Newsom is an exceptional choice for this high honor. I am confident that his strong principles will enable him to apply the law in a fair and just manner,” Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby told YellowHammerNews.com. “President Trump has made the right decision in selecting Kevin to sit on the 11th Circuit, and I believe he will prove to be an asset to our nation’s judicial system as a federal judge.”
