Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed a 37-year-old attorney who has been involved in Republican politics as a new federal district judge for the southern half of Mississippi.

Taylor B. McNeel of Pascagoula was nominated this year by President Donald Trump, and he is the 228th federal judge confirmed to a lifetime position since Trump took office in 2017.

McNeel succeeds Judge Louis Guirola Jr., who retired from full-time judicial service in March 2018.

In a questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee, McNeel said he served on the Jackson County Republican Party executive committee in 2014 and 2015, and that he and his wife hosted a 2019 campaign event for Republican Tate Reeves, who went on to win the governor’s race. He said the Reeves event was not a fundraiser. McNeel said he was part of an informal committee that organized a fundraising event for Republican Michael Watson, who won the 2019 race for Mississippi secretary of state.

McNeel is the second new federal district judge for southern Mississippi confirmed in recent weeks. The Senate on Nov. 17 confirmed Kristi Haskins Johnson of Brandon to succeed Judge Keith Starrett, who retired from full-time judicial service in April 2019. Johnson turns 40 this year. She is the first woman to serve as a federal district judge for southern Mississippi, which has courthouses in Jackson, Hattiesburg, Natchez and Gulfport.

Mississippi's two Republican U.S. senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, issued a statement Tuesday praising McNeel after the 53-39 Senate vote for his confirmation.

“Taylor McNeel’s academic, judicial, and personal qualifications are beyond reproach,” Wicker said. “He has distinguished himself as a practitioner of the law and demonstrated that he will interpret the law as written.”

Hyde-Smith said she was “delighted” about McNeel's confirmation.

“Taylor’s extensive litigation experience made him a promising and well-qualified candidate for service on the federal judiciary," Hyde-Smith said. “He is well-prepared to excel as a federal judge.”

McNeel earned his bachelor's degree in 2005 and his law degree in 2008, both from the University of Mississippi.

McNeel has been a partner in the law firm of Brunini, Grantham, Grower and Hewes, and has been president of the Harrison County Bar Association. In March 2019, he was appointed to the board of trustees for the Pascagoula-Gautier School District.