Andrew Oldham

Andrew Oldham began his legal career clerking for far-right Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. He then spent his career as a litigator actively dismantling civil rights. Between attacking the Voting Rights Act, opposing racial justice protections under the Fair Housing Act, and defending Texas laws that cut off access to abortion, Oldham consistently made it more difficult for everyday people to exercise their rights and participate in democracy. Oldham’s record since joining the Fifth Circuit has shown an equal disdain for the people he is meant to serve: he has regularly granted police immunity for egregious and violent behavior, blocked governmental actions meant to protect everyday people, and made it more difficult for people to exercise their fundamental right to vote.  

• Undermined voting protections. Oldman’s consistent attacks on the Voting Rights Act eventually led to the Supreme Court gutting critical protections for voters of color. He served as counsel on an amicus brief in Shelby County v. Holder that urged the Supreme Court to strike down the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance requirements, which were originally implemented by Congress to prevent states with long histories of voter discrimination from enacting harmful voting laws. The conservative majority sided with Oldham. By successfully eradicating these critical requirements, the Court paved the way for numerous states to implement election –law changes that have disproportionately disenfranchised communities of color. 

• Challenged accountability for discriminatory housing practices. Oldham represented Texas when it challenged the use of disparate-impact liability under the Fair Housing Act. Despite Congress’s clear directive that “disparate-impact claims are cognizable under the FHA,” Oldham argued that disparate-impact liability “gives agencies undue powers over the administration of anti-discrimination laws,” a view that the Supreme Court ultimately disagreed with. 

• Opposed government efforts to curb pollution. Oldham described the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “fundamentally illegitimate” and argued that the Clean Air Act does not permit the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, characterizing the agency’s efforts to address climate change as imposing “near-ridiculous regulatory burdens.” 

• Opposed common sense gun regulations. Oldham has openly and vehemently opposed bans on AR-15 style assault weapons, the same type of weapon used in most of the mass shootings in the United States. 

• Supported efforts to cut off access to abortion care. Oldham also defended a Texas policy that excluded Planned Parenthood and other abortion-service providers from participating in the state’s Women’s Health Program, which in effect significantly reduced access to reproductive health services for many low-income Texans.