After Judge Cory Wilson’s district court nomination was upgraded to the Court of Appeals, Biloxi attorney Taylor McNeel has been nominated to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Background

Taylor Brantley McNeel was born in or around 1983.  After getting a B.B.A. cum laude from the University of Mississippi, McNeel received his J.D. from the University of Mississippi Law School in 2008.  McNeel has spent his entire legal career at the firm of Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC in Biloxi Mississippi, where he currently serves as a Member.

History of the Seat

McNeel has been nominated for a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.  This seat opened on March 23, 2018, when Judge Louis Guirola took senior status.  The White House had previously nominated Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge Cory Wilson to this seat, but withdrew Wilson and nominated him for the Fifth Circuit, to which he was confirmed.  McNeel was then nominated on July 2, 2020.

Legal Experience

McNeel has spent his entire legal career at the firm of Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, PLLC in Biloxi Mississippi, where he currently serves as a Member.  At the firm, McNeel has handled both bench and jury trials in federal and state court, as well as appeals in the Mississippi Supreme Court and the Mississippi Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  For example, McNeel represented golf courses seeking to successfully dismiss an antitrust suit brought against them.  See Gulf Coast Hotel-Motel Ass’n v. Miss. Gulf Coast Golf Course Ass’n, 658 F. Supp. 3d 500 (S.D. Miss. 2011).  

On the state court side, McNeel convinced the Mississippi Court of Appeals to successfully dismiss charges against a casino he represented for allegedly giving food poisoning to patrons.  See McGinty v. Grand Casinos of Miss., Inc. – Biloxi, 245 So. 3d 555 (Miss. App. 2014). An appeal on the issue was later denied by the Supreme Court of Mississippi.  McGinty v. Grand Casinos of Miss., Inc. – Biloxi, 245 So. 3d 444 (Miss. 2018).

Overall Assessment

Despite McNeel’s youth, he has extensive litigation experience practicing before Mississippi’s state and federal courts.  While McNeel’s path to confirmation is complicated by the closing window of judicial confirmations, given the Republican majority, McNeel is favored for confirmation.