Morris Jackson Brooks Jr.[1] (born April 29, 1954) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 5th congressional district from 2011 to 2023.

His father, Morris Jackson "Jack" Brooks Sr., was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee,[7] and worked as an electrical engineer before retiring from Redstone Arsenal's Meteorology Center.

[citation needed] In 1991, Brooks was appointed Madison County district attorney, after the incumbent, Robert E. Cramer, was elected to Congress.

[23][24][25] Nate Silver in the FiveThirtyEight.com New York Times blog predicted that there was a 94.1% chance that Brooks would defeat Democratic nominee Steve Raby.

[34] In an interview with Yellowhammer News, Brooks touted his conservative record, saying that during the previous session of Congress, Heritage Action ranked him one of the Top Ten Best Congressmen on issues involving the "principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense".

The American Conservative Union ranked his record in the top 20% of all Congressmen, with an overall A grade during the last session of Congress, on issues relating to "liberty, personal responsibility, traditional value, and a strong national defense".

The National Taxpayers Union ranked his record at the top of the Alabama Congressional delegation, tied with Byrne and Gary Palmer, on issues relating to "tax relief and reform, lower and less wasteful spending, individual liberty, and free enterprise".

The Club for Growth ranked his record in the top 20% of all Congressmen on "economic policies that strengthen our nation's economy and shrink the size of the federal government".

[39] In the Republican primary, Brooks lost to Strange and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who advanced to the runoff.

[65] In December 2022, Brooks again violated the STOCK Act when he disclosed the purchase of a Duke Energy corporate bond months after a federal reporting deadline.

It's part of the strategy that Barack Obama implemented in 2008, continued in 2012, where he divides us all on race, on sex, creed, envy, class warfare, all those kinds of things".

[82] Brooks also supports the plan Paul Ryan proposed to shift Medicare from a publicly run program to one managed by private insurers.

[90] Brooks opposed the Electrify Africa Act of 2013, a bill that would direct the president to establish a multiyear strategy to help countries in sub-Saharan Africa develop a mix of power solutions to provide sufficient electricity access to people in rural and urban areas in order to alleviate poverty and drive economic growth.

Given America's out-of-control deficits and accumulated debt that threaten our economic future, I cannot justify American taxpayers building power plants and transmission lines in Africa with money we do not have, will have to borrow to get, and cannot afford to pay back".

[93] In 2020, Brooks voted against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, which would prevent the president from withdrawing soldiers from Afghanistan without congressional approval.

[95][96] On June 14, 2017, at 7:09 am EDT, Brooks was practicing for the annual charity Congressional Baseball Game when James T. Hodgkinson opened fire on members of the Republican team, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

[111] On June 29, 2011, reporter Venton Blandin of WHNT-TV asked Brooks to repeat what he had previously stated at a town hall meeting about illegal immigrants.

[126] Flynn initially endorsed Brooks in the 2022 United States Senate election in Alabama but subsequently switched his support to Michael Durant.

[129] But in 2014, he voted for the USA Freedom Act,[130] which, according to its sponsor, would "rein in the dragnet collection of data by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies, increase transparency of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), provide businesses the ability to release information regarding FISA requests, and create an independent constitutional advocate to argue cases before the FISC".

[134] Brooks has called Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Kimberly Gardner, Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, Bill de Blasio, and others socialists.

[135] Brooks voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017,[136] saying the bill was a way "to put more money into the pockets of working Alabamians at all income levels" and that it would "spur much-needed economic growth that will both help with America's deficit and debt crisis".

He had argued that the 2024 presidential election would have candidates who are "vastly superior" to Trump[2] and more directly attacked him as "dishonest, disloyal, incompetent", and "crude".

[144] In September 2021, Brooks was among 75 House Republicans to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, which contains a provision that would require women to be drafted.

[148] After Joe Biden was projected the winner of the 2020 presidential election, Brooks staunchly defended Trump and made claims of fraud.

[149] On December 10, 2020, Brooks was one of 126 Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election.

[151] The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.

[158][159] In December he organized a series of White House meetings between Trump and a dozen Republican lawmakers to strategize about how to overturn the election results on January 6.

In his speech at the Capitol, Brooks harshly criticized other Republicans in Congress for not aiding him in his efforts to overturn the election[161] and said, "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass".

[158] At the rally, Trump gave an hourlong speech claiming that the election had been stolen and urging people to go to the U.S. Capitol to "peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".

[161][164] On January 11, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine said that he was looking at whether to charge Brooks, along with Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr., with inciting the violent attack.