Allen Winsor
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Allen Cothrel Winsor (born September 9, 1976)United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, "Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees"
/ref> is a
United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
of the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida (in case citations, N.D. Fla.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appe ...
.


Biography

Winsor received a
Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...
from
Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...
and a
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
from the
Fredric G. Levin College of Law The University of Florida Levin College of Law (UF Law) is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida and second oldest overall in the stat ...
where he was inducted into the
Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif () is an American honor society for law school graduates. The Order was founded in 1902 at the University of Illinois College of Law. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of trial lawyers, the serjeants-at-la ...
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 journal 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, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...
to Judge
Edward Earl Carnes Edward Earl Carnes (born June 3, 1950) is an American judge who is a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Education and legal career Car ...
of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal appellate court over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * Southern District ...
. From 2003 to 2005, he was an associate at
King & Spalding King & Spalding LLP is an American multinational corporate law firm that is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices located in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It has over 1,300 lawyers in 23 offices globally. It is an A ...
. He later was a partner in the
Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...
office of Gray Robinson, where he focused on civil and appellate litigation. He then joined the
Florida Attorney General The Florida attorney general is an elected Florida Cabinet, cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state, and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs. The office is ...
's office and served for three years as Solicitor General of Florida, under A.G.
Pam Bondi Pamela Jo Bondi ( ; born November 17, 1965) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who has served as the 87th United States attorney general since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the 37th attorney general of Fl ...
. 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 attorney, businessman, politician, and United States Navy, Navy veteran serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of F ...
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 six Florida District Courts of Appeal in that, much like the United States Court of Appeal ...
, 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 Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...
, 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. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...
.


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 is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
nominated Winsor to serve as a United States District Judge of the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida (in case citations, N.D. Fla.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appe ...
. He was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge Robert Hinkle, who assumed senior status on November 7, 2016. On May 23, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the
Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...
. On June 14, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote. Democratic Senator
Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician, attorney, and former astronaut who served from 2001 to 2019 as a United States Senate, United States senator from Florida and from 2021 to 2025 as the Administrator ...
of Florida supported his nomination.Democrats oppose Florida judge despite backing from Nelson
''
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
'', 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 a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
. 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 Cloture (, ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. is ...
on his nomination by a 54–42 vote. On June 19, 2019, he was confirmed by a 54–44 vote, with Democrat
Joe Manchin Joseph Manchin III ( ; born August 24, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia from 2010 to 2025. He was West Virginia's only congressional Democrat until he registered as ...
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 The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...
since 2005.


References


External links

*
Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court
from the
Oyez Project The Oyez Project is an unofficial online multimedia archive website for the Supreme Court of the United States. It was initiated by the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law and now also sponsored by Cornell Law School Le ...
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Winsor, Allen C. 1976 births Living people 21st-century American lawyers 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