J. Campbell Barker

On January 23, 2017, President Trump nominated John Campbell (“Cam”) Barker to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Barker is nominated to the seat vacated by Judge Leonard Davis, who retired in May 2015.

Since 2015, Barker has served as the Deputy Solicitor General for Texas. In that role, Barker has fought immigrant rights and efforts to protect the environment; defended Texas’s discriminatory voter ID laws and unconstitutional restrictions on women’s access to an abortion; and defended businesses that discriminate against LGBTQ Americans. In addition, both as a private attorney and in government, Barker challenged the Affordable Care Act.

Barker also worked on a highly controversial case in which Texas sought to retry a man with an intellectual disability who, after his murder conviction was overturned on appeal, spent 32 years in prison. And, Barker defended the state’s efforts to execute an African-American man based, in part, on a psychologist’s testimony that the defendant’s race made him statistically more likely to commit a violent crime.

Alliance for Justice opposes Barker’s confirmation.

Read more on Barker’s background.

Read our letter of opposition to Barker.