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The United States Senate confirmed Gregory Carl Cook on Thursday, November 12, 2026, to serve as a federal judge for the Northern District of Alabama, voting 49 to 27 to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee.
The confirmation came hours after the Senate voted 50 to 27 to invoke cloture and end debate on the nomination, clearing the way for the final vote. The Senate's official roll call lists the confirmation as vote 260.
Cook, 63, has served as an associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court since his election in 2022. A native of Florence, Alabama, he graduated from Duke University and Harvard Law School and spent more than 31 years in private practice at Balch & Bingham, handling cases in more than 40 of Alabama's 67 counties.
President Trump nominated Cook to the federal bench in June, with the backing of Alabama's Republican senators, Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville. Governor Kay Ivey has said she will appoint someone to fill Cook's seat on the state Supreme Court once he is confirmed.
Cook drew Democratic opposition during his confirmation hearing, when he sidestepped questions about the results of the 2020 presidential election and the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced his nomination in September on a 12-to-10 party-line vote.
The Northern District of Alabama covers Birmingham, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa. Cook is the fourth Alabamian confirmed to a federal judgeship in Trump's second term, following Eddie LaCour and Hal Mooty for the Northern District and Bill Lewis for the Middle District.
Cook was one of three judicial nominees on the Senate floor ready for a vote, along with Daniel Domenico for the Tenth Circuit and Anna St. John for the Fifth Circuit. Republicans are racing to confirm the 23 judicial nominees still pending — four for the appeals courts and 19 for the district courts — before Democrats take control of the Senate in January after winning the majority in the November 3 midterm elections.
President Trump has pressed the Senate to move faster, writing on Truth Social on Monday that it was "very important" to confirm all 161 of his pending nominations, including 25 federal judges. Senate Republicans agreed on Tuesday to a 54-day lame-duck push to confirm nominees, keep the government funded and pass defence legislation before the new Congress convenes on January 3.