# Andrew Oldham

Andrew Stephen Oldham (born 1978) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He previously was the general counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

## Early life and education

Oldham was born in 1978 in Richmond, Virginia. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors. He then studied at the University of Cambridge on a Harry S. Truman Scholarship, receiving a Master of Philosophy with first-class honours in 2002. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and a semi-finalist in the Ames Moot Court Competition. He graduated in 2005 with a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude.

## Career

After law school, Oldham was a law clerk to judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2005 to 2006. He worked as an attorney-adviser in the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel from 2006 to 2008, as part of President George W. Bush's administration. He then clerked for justice Samuel Alito of the U.S. Supreme Court from 2008 to 2009, where he was a co-clerk with Michael H. Park.
Oldham entered private practice in 2009 at the law firm Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick in Washington, D.C. His practice focused on appellate litigation in federal courts of appeals throughout the country. He then served in the Office of the Solicitor General of Texas as Deputy Solicitor General, where he represented Texas in federal courts across the country. In 2015, Oldham wrote an amicus curiae brief in support of Abbott's successful challenge of President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order.
Prior to becoming a judge, he served as general counsel to governor Greg Abbott, where he advised the governor on a range of issues under federal and state law and managed litigation in which the Governor is an interested party.
Abbott appointed Oldham as general counsel to replace Jimmy Blacklock, who left to take a seat on the Supreme Court of Texas.
Oldham has been an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law since 2019. He has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2002.
He has been suggested as a potential Supreme Court nominee in Donald Trump's second term.

### Federal judicial service

On February 12, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Oldham to an undetermined seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. On February 15, 2018, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Trump nominated Oldham to the seat vacated by Judge Edward C. Prado, who became the United States Ambassador to Argentina. On April 25, 2018, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On May 24, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote. On July 17, 2018, the United States Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 50–49 vote. On July 18, 2018, his nomination was confirmed by a 50–49 vote. He received his judicial commission on July 19, 2018.

#### Notable opinions

In September 2022, Oldham wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit in NetChoice v. Paxton, which concerned the constitutionality of Texas House Bill 20. In his opinion, he reversed the judgement of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, holding that the Court "reject[s] the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say." NetChoice appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which granted certiorari and reversed Oldham's decision in Moody v. NetChoice, LLC.
In May 2024, Oldham wrote an opinion for a unanimous three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit in Hughes v. Garcia, which affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to two Houston police officers who arrested a Good Samaritan for impersonating a police officer after he performed a citizen's arrest on a drunk driver who crashed in front of him while on a highway.
In October 2024, Oldham wrote the opinion of the Fifth Circuit in Republican National Committee v. Wetzel. This was a case regarding Mississippi's laws governing the process by which absentee ballots are counted. Mississippi state statute allows absentee ballots that are received up to five days after Election Day to be counted. Oldham wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel that "Text, precedent, and historical practice confirm this “day for the election” is the day by which ballots must be both cast by voters and received by state officials," and thus the state statute is preempted by federal law. As a result, all mail-in absentee ballots in elections in Mississippi must be received by Election Day in order to be counted.