FACT SHEET: Information on David Bragdon, Trump's nominee To the MIDDLE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA

Defending Justice Thomas During Ethics Scandal

• Bragdon clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and joined 111 other former Thomas clerks in defending the Justice despite overwhelming evidence of ethical violations.

• Extensive reporting has revealed that Thomas accepted millions of dollars worth of gifts from right-wing billionaire Harlan Crow, including luxury vacations, valuable historical artifacts, and real estate transactions. Between 2004 and 2023, Thomas received 103 gifts worth approximately $2.4 million.

• Despite these revelations, Bragdon signed an open letter defending Thomas's "integrity, character, and ethics," dismissing the corruption reports as “malicious” attacks on the Supreme Court's legitimacy.

Extreme Views on Women’s Reproductive Rights

• From 1997 to 2000, Bragdon maintained a personal blog titled “David Bragdon's Radical Conservative, Republican, Libertarian Home Page” where he expressed deeply concerning views about women and abortion.

• Bragdon argued that abortion is fundamentally wrong because “a fetus has just as much right to life as an infant does.” He also stated that women seeking abortions “must face the consequences” for their “poor judgment” in not using birth control. 

Advocated for Dismantling Social Safety Nets

• Bragdon has advocated for dramatically reducing assistance to low-income Americans, characterizing welfare as “expensive, addictive, and victimizing.”

• He proposed limiting all welfare benefits for able-bodied citizens to just one year, claiming welfare “encourages drugs and crime" and has a “deteriorating effect on society.” These extreme positions stand in stark contrast to current realities, where nearly 100 million Americans receive some form of government assistance, including 49% of children.

Advocated for Expanded Use of the Death Penalty

• On his personal blog, Bragdon called for more frequent use of the death penalty, comparing its implementation to the American Revolutionary War and describing it as a fight to “protect our freedom.”

• He proposed lowering the jury requirement for death sentences from unanimous agreement to just 9 out of 12 jurors, a standard that would have been among the most permissive in the country at the time and significantly lower than current requirements in nearly all death penalty states.

Controversial Views on Gerrymandering and Voting Rights

• Bragdon argued that partisan gerrymandering is merely “part of the political process” that courts should not heavily regulate, while simultaneously claiming that racial gerrymandering designed to increase Black voting power “strengthens segregation" and causes “the very problems that it is trying to prevent.”