Who is Tom Cotton? Trump lists senator as a potential US Supreme Court nominee
President Donald Trump on September 9, 2020, released an additional 20 names list of the potential nominees to the Supreme Court, including the president's rival-turned-Senate ally, Ted Cruz. The list also includes the name of Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
“Every one of these individuals will ensure equal justice, equal treatment and equal rights for citizens of every race, color, religion and creed,” Trump said at a press conference announcing the names. “Together we will defend our righteous heritage and preserve our magnificent American way of life.”
Cotton said in a statement he was “honored”, that Trump named him on a list of potential Supreme Court candidates and indicated he would accept a nomination to the court. “I’m honored that President Trump asked me to consider serving on the Supreme Court and I’m grateful for his confidence. I will always heed the call of service to our nation,” Cotton said in a statement. “The Supreme Court could use some more justices who understand the difference between applying the law and making the law, which the Court does when it invents a right to an abortion, infringes on religious freedom, and erodes the Second Amendment,” he added.
Who is Tom Cotton?
Thomas Bryant Cotton was born on his family's cattle farm in Yell County, Arkansas, in May 1977. His father, Thomas Leonard Cotton, was a district supervisor in the Arkansas Health Department, whereas, his mother Avis Cotton, was a schoolteacher who later became principal of their district's middle school.
On January 11, 2005, he enlisted in the Regular Army component of the US army and then he declined offers to serve in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, requesting Infantry Branch instead. Later, in May 2006, he was deployed to Baghdad as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) as a platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division and in 2008, he was deployed to eastern Afghanistan where he planned daily counter-insurgency and reconstruction operations. In July 2010, he was transferred to the Army Reserve (USAR), where he was awarded the Bronze Star and also a Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, Ranger Tab, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and Iraq Campaign Medal.
Now, he is a member of the Republican Party and has who served in the US House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015 as well as the junior United States senator from Arkansas since 2015. In 2012, he was elected as the US Representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district and to the Senate in 2014, defeating two-term Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor. It is reported that during his term as US Senator, Cotton received multiple death threats. In 2018, Adam Albrett of Fairfax County, Virginia, was detained for "faxing death threats" against President Donald Trump and members of Congress, including Cotton.
In July this year, Cotton drew flak when he said US founders viewed slavery as a "necessary evil upon which the union was built". His comments were criticized as an attempt to justify the slavery of Black people. He also introduced the Saving American History Act, aimed at stopping funding for 1619, an initiative which bases US history teaching around the first arrivals of slave ships in the US in August of that year.