WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., today hailed Senate confirmation of Taylor B. McNeel of Pascagoula to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. McNeel will be the 228th federal judge confirmed to a lifetime appointment by the Senate since President Donald J. Trump took office in January 2017.

“Taylor McNeel’s academic, judicial, and personal qualifications are beyond reproach,” Wicker said. “He has distinguished himself as a practitioner of the law and demonstrated that he will interpret the law as written. His extensive experience will serve him well as a federal judge. I am delighted with Mr. McNeel’s bipartisan confirmation vote.”

“I am delighted the Senate has confirmed Taylor McNeel of Pascagoula to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi,” Hyde-Smith said. “Taylor’s extensive litigation experience made him a promising and well-qualified candidate for service on the federal judiciary. He is well-prepared to excel as a federal judge, and I am confident Taylor will serve the people of Mississippi with honor and distinction.”

McNeel was an Eagle Scout, student body president, and an all-state quarterback in high school and was elected Governor of American Legion Boys State. He graduated cum laude from Ole Miss in 2005, where he was a member of the football team for two seasons and served as senior class president. In 2008, he graduated cum laude from the University of Mississippi Law School where he was a member of the Mississippi Law Journal.

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. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

He is an elder at the First Presbyterian Church of Pascagoula and has served as president of the Harrison County Bar Association. Additionally, McNeel has held several leadership positions in the Mississippi Bar Association.