The Senate voted to confirm President Trump’s first judicial nominee for his second term.

In a 46-42 vote along party lines, the Republican-led Senate confirmed Whitney Hermandorfer to serve on the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Congratulations to our exceptional colleague Whitney Hermandorfer on her appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit! We are so proud of this incredible accomplishment and know she will serve with distinction,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said.

Hermandorfer worked as a lawyer in the Tennessee Attorney General’s office.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears appeals from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.

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More info from Reuters:

She is the first of 15 judicial nominees the president has announced to date to secure Senate approval, as Trump and his Republican allies in the Senate look to add to the 234 judicial appointments Trump made in his first term.

With Hermandorfer’s confirmation, Trump tied former President Joe Biden’s total of 235 judicial appointments.

Such appointments could help Trump further shift the ideological balance of the judiciary to the right at a moment when White House officials have accused judges who have blocked parts of his immigration and cost-cutting agenda they have found to be unlawful of being part of a “judicial coup.”

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, ahead of a procedural vote on Hermandorfer’s nomination on Thursday, said the goal was to fill around 50 judicial vacancies on the bench with judges who “understand the proper role of a judge.”

He said judges should “understand that their job is to interpret the law, not usurp the job of the people’s elected representatives by legislating from the bench.”

“Hermandorfer previously served as director of strategic litigation for the Tennessee AG, where she defended several Trump policies,” Newsweek stated.

Newsweek noted:

Whitney Hermandorfer, born Whitney Dianne Downs in 1987 in Clearwater, Florida, earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 2009, graduating summa cum laude with a concentration in sociology. She went on to receive her Juris Doctor from George Washington University Law School in 2015, where she served as editor-in-chief of The George Washington Law Review and was awarded the John Bell Larner Award for achieving the highest cumulative GPA in her class.

Following law school, Hermandorfer began her legal career at the Washington, D.C., firm Williams & Connolly, where she worked as an associate specializing in appellate and administrative law.

Hermandorfer previously served as director of strategic litigation for the Tennessee attorney general, where she defended several of Trump’s policies, including efforts to end birthright citizenship and support for the state’s near-total abortion ban.

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Critics of Hermandorfer’s nomination have pointed to her limited courtroom experience — she graduated from law school just ten years ago — and what they view as a deeply ideological background.

Her record drew sharp criticism from Democrats and progressive legal groups, who labeled her views extreme and pointed to her office’s defense of Tennessee’s stringent abortion ban. Prior to that role, Hermandorfer clerked for three conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices — Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

At her confirmation hearing, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware questioned her qualifications, citing the “striking brevity” of her litigation record. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, accused Trump of valuing personal loyalty and political alignment over judicial independence.

 

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