Senators pressed Mississippi’s two nominees for federal judgeships on Wednesday about their judicial philosophy, qualifications and how they feel about the U.S. Supreme Court recognizing gay marriage. 

Robert Chamberlin and James Maxwell, two current Mississippi Supreme Court justices, testified at the Senate confirmation hearing about their nominations by President Donald Trump to lifetime judicial slots in northern Mississippi. 

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee’s chairman, said the slate of nominees that appeared before the committee was full of “highly qualified men and women who understand the importance of judicial independence in our constitutional design.” 

But senators from both parties still questioned the two men about their judicial records and how they would approach the job of ruling in civil disputes and overseeing criminal trials.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee, asked Maxwell to justify the majority opinion he wrote in Nash v. State of Mississippi. In this case, the state Supreme Court upheld a lower-court judge’s sentencing of a man to serve 12 years in jail for possessing a cell phone in a correctional facility. 

Maxwell responded that the lengthy sentence may have been harsh, but his role wasn’t to impose a personal sentence on the defendant. 

“Our role as the Mississippi Supreme Court is to determine if that was a lawful sentence as set by the parameters of our state Legislature,” Maxwell responded. 

The nominees also stated at the hearing that they believed Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled separate but equal segregation unconstitutional, and Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared state bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional, were correct decisions. 

However, Chamberlin and Maxwell did not answer a similar question from Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut about whether he thought the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges recognizing a right for same sex couples to marry was a correct ruling.

“It is the better practice not to comment on the wisdom of these decisions,” Chamberlin said. 

Both of Mississippi’s Republican senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, spoke in support of the two nominees at the hearing. Wicker said that Chamberlin was “a rock-solid choice,” while Hyde-Smith stated she had complete confidence in Maxwell’s “qualifications, character and commitment to justice.”

Maxwell earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Mississippi. Former Gov. Haley Barbour in February of 2009 appointed Maxwell to the state Court of Appeals. 

Maxwell was elected to the post in 2010 and reelected in 2014. 

Former Gov. Phil Bryant appointed him to the state Supreme Court in January 2016. He was later elected to an eight-year term in November of 2016 and reelected in 2024.

Maxwell said his prior experience as a federal prosecutor and growing up with an attorney for a father helped make him qualified to become a federal judge. 

Chamberlin earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Mississippi. He first served as a state circuit court judge for 12 years in the 17th Circuit District. In 2016, he was elected to an open seat on the state Supreme Court and reelected in 2024. 

Before becoming a judge, Chamberlin was a member of the state Senate for five years, representing DeSoto County. 

Chamberlin, at the hearing, said his role as a state circuit court judge has prepared him to preside over a federal courtroom because he’s previously had to “run a docket” in a state court. 

Chamberlin and Maxwell will replace U.S. District Judges Michael Mills and Sharion Aycock, both of whom decided to take senior status in recent years. 

It’s unclear when the committee will vote on the two nominees, but Republican U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama said at the hearing that members of the Judicial Committee can submit written questions to the nominees until Sept. 10.