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For now, the nomination of racist Thomas Farr for an Eastern District of North Carolina seat is over. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who had initially voted to advance the nomination for a confirmation vote, said his decision came after he reviewed a 1991 Justice Department memo that described Farr as "the primary coordinator" of voter suppression efforts by the 1984 campaign of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) "including a postcard mailing to voters in predominantly black precincts which Was designed to serve as a basis to challenge voters on election day."
The Justice Department began an investigation of the so-called "ballot security" program of the 1990 Helms re-election campaign, in which postcards were sent to 125,000 predominantly Black North Carolinians warning that they were not eligible to vote and would be prosecuted for fraud if they did attempt to vote. Farr insisted in his Judiciary Committee hearing that he wasn't aware of the 1990 postcard mailings. This Justice Department memo, obtained by the Washington Post and published on Tuesday, makes Farr's claim dubious, at best.
The Helms campaign history is only part of Farr's racist past. He was instrumental in both drafting and defending North Carolina's racist voter ID law struck down by a federal court because it targeted black voters "with almost surgical precision." He also has connections with a white supremacist group that argues for eugenics, the Pioneer Fund. The Southern Poverty Law Center says the group was "established to use science to pursue the goals of its founder: the preservation of white supremacy and white racial purity from the threat posed by blacks and undesirable immigrants, especially Jews." Farr's longtime boss and mentor Thomas Ellis was a one-time director of the Pioneer Fund.
As of now, it's not clear how the White House or Majority Mitch McConnell intends to proceed with the nomination. It hasn't been officially withdrawn. Scott's opposition seems immovable. Likewise, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) says that he would vote against Farr on the merits. He's also refusing to advance any judicial nominees until or unless he gets a vote on legislation to protect the special counsel's investigation into Trump's Russia ties.
But the Senate will come back in 2019 with a larger majority and Flake gone. Farr could very well be renominated then. If that happens, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who initially said she was going to vote for Farr but then got a bit wobbly when it looked like there was going to be principled oppostion, will once again be on the hot seat. As will Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) who was somewhat coy in her decision whether or not to confirm him after she did vote to advance the nomination.