One of President Donald Trump’s earliest judicial picks easily secured Senate confirmation on Tuesday, filling the vacancy left by a retiring Obama appointee.
Whitney Hermandorfer was confirmed to a lifetime seat on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio, succeeding one of former President Barack Obama’s two nominees to that bench.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) praised Hermandorfer’s judicial temperament and commended his Senate colleagues for maintaining momentum on Trump’s judicial confirmations even after the passage of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” earlier this month.
“Our job now is to continue the good work that we began during the first Trump administration by filling those vacancies with more judges who understand the proper role of a judge,” he said from the floor of the Senate on Tuesday. “And that starts with confirming Ms. Hermandorfer.”
Hermandorfer, 38, is the first federal appeals court nominee of President Trump’s second term. She previously clerked for Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett, and for Judge Brett Kavanaugh when he served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
There are roughly 50 judicial vacancies at the federal level today, the IJR reports, representing less than half the number that were filled during Trump’s first term.
With Republicans holding a narrow majority, Thune said he will collaborate with President Trump and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to fast-track confirmation hearings for Trump’s judicial nominees. To date, Grassley’s committee has advanced five of those nominees.
While at Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office, Hermandorfer played a key role in securing a landmark Supreme Court decision last month that upheld the state’s ban on transgender athletes participating in sports inconsistent with their biological sex.