Trent McCotter

McCotter worked in Jenner & Block's Supreme Court and appellate practice group. In 2017, he became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.^[6] McCotter was involved in the prosecution of Edward Snowden.^[7] In the final months of president Donald Trump's first term, he served as a deputy associate attorney general in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.^[8]

In 2021, McCotter joined the lawyer C. Boyden Gray's firm, Boyden Gray & Associates.^[6] In March 2022, he represented several federal employees who sued the Biden administration over its requirement for federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.^[9] By May 2023, McCotter had become a partner at Boyden Gray. Prior to his death that month, Gray worked with McCotter to restructure the firm.^[10] McCotter argued before the Supreme Court in FCC v. Consumers' Research (2025), a case involving the constitutionality of the Universal Service Fund.^[6] He filed a petition on behalf of Ed Blum's companies seeking for the Securities and Exchange Commission to restrict proxy advisory firms from considering gender, race, or ethnicity in their guidance to investors.^[8]

On April 9, 2026, acting attorney general Todd Blanche appointed McCotter as the principal associate deputy attorney general.^[11]

• Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court from the Oyez Project