Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Wednesday the appointment of Barrett Bowdre as the state’s next solicitor general. Bowdre has been with the Attorney General’s Office since 2019, having served as deputy solicitor general and principal deputy solicitor general.
“It is an honor to appoint Barrett as Alabama’s Solicitor General,” Attorney General Marshall said. “Barrett is an exceptional legal mind whose clarity of thought, strategic discipline, and mastery of constitutional law have earned him widespread respect across the legal community. His distinguished experience practicing before appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court will serve Alabama well. The rule of law could not ask for a more capable or principled advocate.
“Barrett was a driving force behind Alabama’s landmark success in exposing and dismantling the massive medical, legal, and political scandal that sought to normalize sex-change procedures for minors. His tireless work to protect vulnerable children has safeguarded families in Alabama and sparked a reckoning within the global medical establishment,” Marshall said.
As solicitor general, Bowdre will be Alabama’s chief appellate lawyer, supervising the state’s litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Alabama Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. “He will also defend the State’s interests in other courts throughout the country and work with other state Attorney General offices on common initiatives to protect the rule of law,” the release said.
Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Bowdre served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; then-Chief Judge W. Keith Watkins of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama; and then-Chief Judge Ed Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
He earned his J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Alabama School of Law, and his B.A., cum laude, from Furman University. Before attending law school, Bowdre worked as a research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute, where he contributed to civic education initiatives and literary anthologies examining the American character.
