FACT SHEET: Information on James Maxwell, Trump's nominee To the Northern district of mississippi

Anti-Trans

• In April 2025, Maxwell authored an opinion denying a transgender teenager’s name change petition, despite his parents' consent.

• Maxwell referred to the transgender boy as a female, despite the teenager identifying as a boy.

• Maxwell wrote that a name change was not in the teen’s best interest due to his “lack of maturity.”

Harsh Sentencing

• In September 2024, Maxwell joined the majority in ruling that Willie Manning, a death row inmate, did not have a right to have new evidence heard in court, despite the scientific evidence used to convict him falling apart.

• In 2020, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld a 12-year prison sentence for a Black man who carried his cellphone into a county jail cell. Maxwell wrote that “though harsh,” the sentencing “falls within the statutory range.”