The Senate on Monday confirmed the first judicial nominee of President Trump’s second term.
Whitney Hermandorfer will now be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit, the Cincinnati-based bench that hears appeals from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee
Hermandorfer, of Tennessee, was confirmed by a 46-42 vote along party lines. She will replace an Obama pick, Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch.
Twelve senators did not vote.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) called the confirmation of Hermandorfer “a boon to the federal judiciary.”
“As the Director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in Tennessee, she’s led major cases on civil rights and the separation of powers and is widely praised for her legal mind, impeccable qualifications, collegial nature and constitutionalist philosophy. I was proud to lead Ms. Hermandorfer’s nomination through the Senate Judiciary Committee and am confident she will be an excellent federal judge,” Grassley said.
According to the White House, when nominated earlier this year, Hermandorfer was the director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General. She had previously served as an associate at Williams & Connolly, LLP in Washington, D.C., and clerked for Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett of the Supreme Court, now-Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh when he was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard J. Leon of the D.C. District Court.
“I am pleased to announce the nomination of Whitney Hermandorfer to serve as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit," Trump wrote in May when he nominated her. "Whitney has been serving the Great People of Tennessee, in the Attorney General’s Office, where she has strongly litigated in Court to protect Citizens from Federal Government Overreach. A former Co-Captain of the Princeton University Women’s Basketball Team, Whitney is a staunch defender of Girls’ and Women’s Sports. She has a long history of working for Judges and Justices who respect the RULE OF LAW, and protect our Constitution, including Justice Samuel Alito and two fine Supreme Court Justices I appointed in my First Term. Whitney is a Fighter who will inspire confidence in our Legal System. Thank you Whitney!”
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During her confirmation hearings, Hermandorfer said in reference to judicial power that “[I]t is an extraordinary power, the Article III power, to decide cases…With that power, again, comes great responsibility and humility to understand the proper role of a judge is to interpret the law and not make the law or bend the law to whatever policy preferences the judge might have individually.”
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