James Strom Thurmond Jr. (born October 18, 1972) is a former

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the District of South Carolina and

2nd Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, and it has appellate jurisdict ...

Solicitor. He is one of four children born to long-serving

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

Strom Thurmond James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Before his 49 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South ...

and Nancy (Moore) Thurmond. His younger brother,

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

, is a former member of the

South Carolina Senate The South Carolina State Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives. It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at ...

. Thurmond graduated from the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

in 1995 and

University of South Carolina School of Law The University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law, also known as South Carolina Law School, is a professional school within the University of South Carolina. Founded in 1867, it is the only public and non-profit law school in South Car ...

in 1998. He has been Strom Thurmond's oldest living child since the deaths of his sister Nancy in 1993 and his half-sister Essie in 2013.

Career

Thurmond was recommended for the position of

United States attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

in South Carolina by his father, who was the chair of 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 ...

, the panel that reviewed such appointments. Senator Thurmond claimed his son was "uniquely qualified". At the time, Thurmond Jr. was 28 years old and had been a practicing lawyer for fewer than three years, whereas the average age of the 93 U.S. attorneys was 50, and their average legal experience 22 years. But the nomination was not contentious, as it was also backed by South Carolina Democrats, including the then-junior U.S. senator,

Fritz Hollings Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings (January 1, 1922April 6, 2019) was an American politician from the U.S. state of South Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as a member of the South Carolina Ho ...

. Thurmond served as assistant

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

for the solicitor's office of the Second Judicial Circuit of South Carolina (1999–2001), as U.S. attorney (2001–2005), and solicitor for the Second Judicial Circuit of South Carolina (2009–2020). In January 2021, he began private law practice.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurmond, James Strom Jr. 1972 births Living people South Carolina state solicitors United States attorneys for the District of South Carolina South Carolina Republicans University of South Carolina School of Law alumni 21st-century American politicians Strom Thurmond