Mississippi Press
Pascagoula attorney nominated to serve as U.S. District Judge
By Warren Kulo
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Pascagoula attorney Taylor McNeel has been nominated to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi, U.S. Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith announced Monday.
“Taylor McNeel will make a great judge because he shares the conservative judicial philosophy that laws should be interpreted as written,” Wicker said. “He has distinguished himself academically at the University of Mississippi, professionally as a young lawyer, and through his community involvement on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
"I join Senator Hyde-Smith in thanking President Trump for agreeing with our recommendation to nominate Taylor. I look forward to adding his name to the long list of conservative judges confirmed by the Republican Senate.”
McNeel is a partner in the law firm of Brunini, Grantham, Grower, and Hewes, where he heads the Mississippi Gulf Coast office and has led a number of cases before the Mississippi Supreme Court, Mississippi Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
McNeel graduated Cum Laude from the University of Mississippi in 2005, serving as senior class president and a member of the Ole Miss football team for two seasons. Je graduated Cum Laude from the Ole Miss law school in 2008.
He has served as a school board member for the Pascagoula-Gautier School District, president of the Harrison County Bar Association, graduated from Leadership Jackson County, and has been heavily involved in the Mississippi Bar Association, serving as chairman of the Pro Bono Committee for the Appellate Practice Section, director for the Young Lawyers’ Division, Disaster Legal Assistance Coordinator, and on the Executive Committee of Appellate Practice Section.
McNeel and his wife, Jessica, are the parents of a daughter, Mollie, and a son, John Taylor. They are members of First Presbyterian Church in Pascagoula.
McNeel is the second Jackson Countian to be nominated to the federal bench in 2020. In March, Moss Point native Cory Wilson was nominated to serve on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Wilson’s nomination, sending the nomination to the Senate floor for a vote.