Allen Cothrel Winsor (born September 9, 1976)
[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees"](_blank)
/ref> is a United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...
of the .
Biography
Winsor received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
and a Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
from the Fredric G. Levin College of Law where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif
The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...
and served as editor-in-chief of the Florida Law Review
The ''Florida Law Review'' is a bimonthly law review published by the University of Florida's Fredric G. Levin College of Law. The review was established in 1948 as the ''University of Florida Law Review'' and it assumed its current name in 1989. ...
.
After law school, Winsor served as a law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
to Judge Edward Earl Carnes
Edward Earl Carnes (born June 3, 1950) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Education and legal career
Carnes received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Ala ...
of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. From 2003 to 2005, he was an associate at King & Spalding. He later was a partner in the Tallahassee office of Gray Robinson, where he focused on civil and appellate litigation.
He then joined the Florida Attorney General's office and served for three years as Solicitor General of Florida
The solicitor general of Florida or Florida solicitor general is the top appellate (appeals) solicitor (lawyer) for the U.S. State of Florida. It is an appointed position in the Office of the Florida Attorney General and the individual serves at t ...
, under A.G. Pam Bondi
Pamela Jo Bondi (born November 17, 1965) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician. A Republican, she served as the 37th Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, the first woman elected to the office.
In 2020, Bondi was one of Presid ...
.
In that position, he defended Florida's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages that was eventually struck down, contending in a legal brief for Florida that recognizing same-sex marriages from other states would ostensibly "impose significant public harm" and that Florida possessed a legitimate interest in restricting marriage as exclusively between men and women.
In 2016, Governor Rick Scott
Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers, born December 1, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019.
Scott ...
appointed him to the Florida First District Court of Appeal The Florida First District Court of Appeal, also known as the First DCA, is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, the state capital. It is unique among the five Florida District Courts of Appeal in that, much like the U.S. Court of Appeals for th ...
, where he served until being appointed to the federal district court by President Donald Trump.[ ]
Ashley Schapitl, a spokeswoman for California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was ...
, said Feinstein voted in opposition to Winsor's confirmation because of his role "defending laws that would restrict women's reproductive rights and the prohibition of same-sex marriage." She further mentioned that Winsor assisted Florida in joining an action contesting power plant emissions rules written by the Obama administration
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...
.[
]
Federal judicial service
On April 10, 2018, President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
nominated Winsor to serve as a United States District Judge of the . He was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge Robert Hinkle
Robert Lewis Hinkle (born November 7, 1951) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
Biography
Born on November 7, 1951, in Apalachicola, Florida, Hinkle received a Bach ...
, who assumed senior status
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...
on November 7, 2016. On May 23, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On June 14, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote. Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida supported his nomination.[Democrats oppose Florida judge despite backing from Nelson]
''Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'', Gary Fineout, June 14, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2024.
On January 3, 2019, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
. On January 23, 2019, Trump announced his intent to renominate Winsor for a federal judgeship. His nomination was sent to the Senate later that day. On February 7, 2019, his nomination was reported out of committee by a 12–10 vote. On June 18, 2019, the Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 54–42 vote. On June 19, 2019, he was confirmed by a 54–44 vote, with Democrat Joe Manchin voting for him.On the Nomination (Confirmation Allen Cothrel Winsor, of Florida, to be U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Florida), June 19, 2019
/ref> He received his judicial commission on June 21, 2019.
Memberships
He has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2005.
References
External links
*
Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court
from the Oyez Project
The Oyez Project at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law is an unofficial online multimedia archive of the Supreme Court of the United States, especially audio of oral arguments. The website "aims to be a complete an ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winsor, Allen C.
1976 births
Living people
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
Auburn University alumni
Florida Republicans
Florida State University faculty
Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni
Judges of the Florida District Courts of Appeal
Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida
Lawyers from Orlando, Florida
Solicitors General of Florida
United States district court judges appointed by Donald Trump