Bryan Stirling confirmed by Senate to be U.S. Attorney for South Carolina

Bryan Stirling of Columbia has finally been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the next permanent U.S. attorney for South Carolina, one of the state’s top law enforcement posts.

Stirling, 56, a former director of the S.C. Department of Corrections, was confirmed late Thursday in a voice vote by the U.S. Senate, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, announced the event in a blast email.

Stirling was nominated by President Donald Trump in late April and was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi to serve in that position until the Senate confirmed him.

U.S. Attorneys must also have the support of both U.S. Senators from their state, and the support of Sen. Graham was key in Stirling’s nomination.

In an email, Graham congratulated Stirling and called him “motivated” and highly qualified.

“He will fiercely fight crime and make South Carolina safer,” Graham said. “I appreciate President Trump nominating him.”

Stirling, a soft-spoken man who rarely raises his voice and is given to dark blue suits, is widely regarded as a level-headed, ethical executive who has broad support by politicians on both sides of the aisle and also in the state’s law enforcement community.

“I’m honored to have been nominated and confirmed, and I look forward to serving as U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina,” Stirling said Friday morning. The post has special meaning for Stirling, whose family — including his grandfather, great-grandfather and great uncle — have been in police work for a century, he said.

Stirling is a 1991 graduate of the University of South Carolina and a 1996 graduate of the university’s law school.

As prison director from 2013 to earlier this year, Stirling has a reputation for pragmatic approaches to knotty problems and crusaded for national legislation that would allow state prison systems to block signals to unlawful cell phones from being transmitted outside. He also fought never-ending battles against people flying drones loaded with contraband such as cell phones into the prisons and corrupt prison officers. Under his watch, the recidivism rate — repeat offenders who return to prison — became the lowest in the country, according to the agency.

Stirling’s prison empire included more than 4,000 employees who oversaw 16,000 inmates in 21 prisons around the state, the most notorious of which is convicted murderer, fraudster and ex-lawyer Alex Murdaugh. He is serving two consecutive life sentences.

As U.S. Attorney, however, Stirling will be in charge of a considerably smaller operation than his state prison domain — dozens of federal prosecutors who work with law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, ICE, IRS, Homeland Security Investigations and others to bring criminal prosecutions. His office also has civil lawyers who handle non-criminal matters involving the federal government.

In all, approximately 120 lawyers and support staff work for the U.S. attorney’s office in its four offices in Charleston, Columbia, Florence and Greenville.

Stirling’s office also works with local and state law agencies including the largest, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, whose chief, Mark Keel, praised Stirling on Friday morning.

“Everybody in law enforcement is excited about Bryan being U.S. Attorney. He is a consummate professional in every way,” said Keel, adding that Stirling won the respect of many by excelling in the difficult job of leading the state’s prison system. “I know that this has been a dream of his, to be U.S. attorney, and I just could not be more happy for him.”

Stirling has a great work ethic and a “tremendous sense of integrity and ethics,” said Keel, who has known him for more than 15 years. “He’s going to do what’s right.”

One major pending matter before his office is the upcoming sentencing of former S.C. House of Representatives Rep. R.J. May III, who pleaded guilty in federal court in Columbia to five counts of distributing child sex abuse material, also known as child porn. May will be sentenced Jan. 14 by U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie.

And Thursday, Stirling, FBI Special Agent in Charge of South Carolina Kevin Moore, announced the indictment of a Columbia area man who allegedly fired his gun at a Black man last summer just to harass him. The man is charged with a federal hate crime — a rare charge in South Carolina where Republican conservative lawmakers have for years fought against enacting a state hate crime law.

The position of U.S. attorney — there are 93 in the country, populous states having more than one — has been in the news lately as Trump has instructed Bondi to have some U.S. attorneys bring criminal cases against his political foes.

In the Eastern District of Virginia, for example, prosecutors resigned rather than bring what they said was a flimsy criminal case against former FBI director James Comey. When Bondi finally appointed a lawyer who had never been a prosecutor to be that district’s U.S. attorney to indict Comey, a federal judge ruled the indictment unlawful because the lawyer had not been properly appointed.

Earlier this month, a Virginia federal grand jury refused to indict Letitia James, New York State Attorney General, whom Trump had been pressing the Justice Department to indict even though professional prosecutors were against prosecuting her.

Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond Law School professor who studies confirmation processes, courts and the judiciary, said Friday morning that Stirling was one of 13 new U.S. attorneys confirmed in a voice vote Thursday night in the Senate.

“Most of them look really well qualified” and have relevant law enforcement and legal backgrounds, Tobias said.

By getting appointed now before the holidays instead of in six weeks when the Senate returns, the new U.S. attorneys now have firm authority in their jobs. “I’d rather have them in place if they’re competent,” Tobias said.

“Stirling will start working and keep things moving, and that’s good for justice in South Carolina,” Tobias said.

This story was originally published December 11, 2025 at 2:13 PM.