Senator Tim Scott says he will oppose nominee Thomas Farr, criticized for defending laws that discriminated against African Americans

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A second Republican senator, Tim Scott of South Carolina, has said he will vote against Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as a district judge in North Carolina, likely dooming the prospects of Thomas Farr filling the country’s longest court vacancy.

Civil rights groups such as the NAACP have heavily criticized Farr for his work defending state laws found to have discriminated against African Americans. Farr is nominated to serve as a district court judge in North Carolina.

Scott announced Thursday that he would not vote for Farr, joining Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and 49 Democratic lawmakers in opposing the nominee.

Farr once served as a lawyer for the re-election campaign of the Republican senator Jesse Helms in 1990. The justice department alleged that about 120,000 postcards sent mostly to black voters before that election were intended to intimidate them out of voting.

The postcards targeting black voters said they could be prosecuted and imprisoned for up to five years if they tried to vote in a precinct in which they had lived for fewer than 30 days.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tim Scott on Capitol Hill. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

Farr told the Senate judiciary committee he was not consulted about the postcards and did not have any role in drafting or sending them. He said that after he had been asked to review the card, “I was appalled to read the incorrect language printed on the card and to then discover it had been sent to African Americans.”

A 1991 justice department memo, first reported by the Washington Post, raised questions about Farr’s claim that he was never consulted about the postcards. The memo said Farr had met with key campaign officials and had advised them “that a postcard mailing like the mailing conducted in 1984 would not be particularly useful” except as evidence in post-election challenges.

The 1984 mailing contained an endorsement of Helms from a black minister and included an address correction request so the card would be returned if undelivered, setting up a potential avenue to challenge the legitimacy of a voter.

Scott, who is African American, cited the memo in explaining why he would vote against Farr.

“This week, a Department of Justice memo written under President George HW Bush came to light that shed new light on Mr Farr’s activities,” Scott said. “This, in turn, creates more concerns. Weighing these important factors, this afternoon I concluded that I could not support Mr Farr’s nomination.”

Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, had repeatedly criticized Republicans in recent days for moving forward with the Farr vote. He said Scott “has done a courageous thing”.

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Earlier Thursday, senators had agreed to postpone the vote on Farr until next week. That decision came less than 24 hours after Republicans needed Vice-President Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote Wednesday to move Farr’s nomination forward for a final vote.

Republican senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr of North Carolina both supported Farr’s nomination. Tillis said earlier in the week he believed that Farr was being treated unfairly.﻿