schedules and work practices. In 2014 Conrad expressed frustration at the mandatory minimum sentencing laws that required him to sentence Corvain Cooper, a 34-year-old black man, to life in prison for money laundering, tax evasion, and conspiracy to sell marijuana. Conrad stated at sentencing that he was “not comfortable with imposing a mandatory minimum life sentence on a 34-year-old individual without some discretion” to consider sentence-reducing factors, but stated that the law tied the Court’s hands. Conrad had previously spoken out against such mandatory minimum sentence laws, testifying at a February 2009 Sentencing Commission Public Hearing that “ultimately the goal of uniformity must yield to the imperative of doing justice in individual cases.” After President Barack Obama declined to issue a pardon in Cooper’s case, President Donald Trump commuted Corvain Cooper’s sentence in January 2021. Failed Nomination to Court of Appeals On July 17, 2007, Judge Conrad was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated by Judge James Dickson Phillips Jr. in 1994. Conrad was nominated in the place of the prior candidate Terrence Boyle. Although he had the support of North Carolina's two Republican senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, Judge Conrad ran into immediate opposition from Senate Democrats and liberal groups such as People for the American Way and the Alliance for Justice. These groups expressed concerns over both Conrad's writings prior to his confirmation as a district court judge and his rulings later as a judge. Conrad had referred to Planned Parenthood's OB/GYNs as "abortionists" in 1988. He also wrote that "Planned Parenthood knowingly kills unborn babies, not fetuses, as a method of post conception contraception." Additionally, he claimed that Planned Parenthood had done nothing to reduce teen pregnancy rates and should not receive funding for its contraception services. In 1999, Conrad wrote "Habitually Wrong" which was published in the Catholic Dossier. In it, he heavily criticized Sister Helen Prejean's book Dead Man Walking. He referred to the book as "liberal drivel" and to Sister Prejean as a "Church-hating nun." He contended that, "This surprisingly shallow book wallows in worn-out liberal shibboleths and dated anecdotes." Senator Patrick Leahy D-VT, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, used Judge Conrad's comments on Prejean to justify why he refused to schedule a hearing for Conrad. He said that Conrad was "anti-Catholic", which enraged Senate