Trump Names First Judicial Pick: Former SCOTUS Clerk | EUROtoday

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has picked his first judicial nominee of his second time period: Whitney Hermandorfer, a Tennessee lawyer who has clerked for 3 of the Supreme Court’s conservative justices — together with two of Trump’s nominees — and who progressive teams warn has an “extremist” file.

In a social media publish near midnight on Thursday, Trump mentioned he plans to appoint Hermandorfer to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Hermandorfer, 38, at the moment works for the Tennessee lawyer basic as director of the workplace’s strategic litigation unit.

“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,” the president mentioned on his social media web site, Truth Social.

“Whitney is a Fighter who will inspire confidence in our Legal System,” he mentioned. “Thank you Whitney!”

President Donald Trump announced on social media that he plans to nominate Whitney Hermandorfer to a U.S. appeals court.
President Donald Trump introduced on social media that he plans to appoint Whitney Hermandorfer to a U.S. appeals court docket.

Hermandorfer beforehand clerked for Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett, one in all Trump’s nominees. She additionally clerked for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one other of Trump’s nominees, when he was a choose on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

This was definitely a plus for the president.

“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,” he mentioned.

A social media publish isn’t a proper nomination; the White House has to formally submit Hermandorfer’s nomination to the Senate for it to start shifting. But the truth that Trump is even speaking about naming somebody to a court docket seat, right here on May 2, is notable contemplating how sluggish Trump’s White House has been in shifting judicial nominations.

By this level in his time period, President Joe Biden had nominated 12 individuals to lifetime federal judgeships. President Barack Obama had nominated three in his first time period and 5 in his second time period. In his first time period, Trump had nominated two individuals to federal judgeships by this level, one in all whom was then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch.

“It is late for the first nominee, especially given how severely Trump has been attacking federal judges,” mentioned Carl Tobias, a regulation professor on the University of Richmond in Virginia and an knowledgeable on federal judicial nominations.

As for Hermandorfer’s {qualifications} to be a choose, Tobias known as her “an astute pick” with strong conservative credentials, very a lot within the mould of Trump’s first-term judicial nominees who had data of opposing abortion rights, LGBTQ rights and voting rights. He famous that she has defended the state’s “strict abortion law and efforts to keep trans people out of women’s sports” in her work with the Tennessee lawyer basic’s workplace.

Hermandorfer can be younger, that means if she is confirmed by the Senate, she may maintain this lifetime federal judgeship for many years.

Trump says he plans to nominate Whitney Hermandorfer to a U.S. appeals court seat, marking his first judicial nomination of his second term. Hermandorfer previously clerked for two of Trump's Supreme Court nominees, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Trump says he plans to appoint Whitney Hermandorfer to a U.S. appeals court docket seat, marking his first judicial nomination of his second time period. Hermandorfer beforehand clerked for 2 of Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Tom Williams through Getty Images

Progressive judicial advocacy teams seized on the information of Hermandorfer’s coming nomination, warning that it’s proof that Trump will prioritize judicial nominees prepared to place private loyalty over the regulation.

Maggie Jo Buchanan, interim government director of Demand Justice, identified that in late March, Hermandorfer served as counsel of file for Tennessee in a short submitted to the Supreme Court advocating the identical place that Trump is utilizing in his efforts to finish birthright citizenship.

“The administration’s attempt to end birthright citizenship has been roundly criticized as unconstitutional by leading scholars on the left and right, but Hermandorfer appears to be willing to act in lockstep with the political desires of this administration,” Buchanan mentioned in a press release.

Alliance For Justice described her file as “disturbing” and “extremist.”

In her work for the Tennessee lawyer basic, Hermandorfer led litigation from a number of states difficult Biden’s Title IX steerage that included protections for transgender college students and their inclusion in class actions. Her efforts to roll again these protections is what Trump was referring to in his publish when he known as her “a staunch defender of Girls’ and Women’s Sports.”

“This is perhaps why Trump himself included a familiar and obvious anti-trans dog whistle in his announcement, expressing his expectation that she will uphold the discrimination his administration has already pushed through various executive orders,” Alliance for Justice mentioned in a press release.

Keith Thirion, the group’s interim co-president, mentioned within the assertion that he hopes senators are ready to cease “conservative crusaders like Whitney Hermandorfer who will be loyal to [Trump] and his discriminatory authoritarian agenda at the expense of all of us.”

People For the American Way President Svante Myrick took issues a step additional, saying the Senate shouldn’t verify Hermandorfer or any of Trump’s judicial nominees given his common assaults on the courts and his requires judges to be eliminated who rule in opposition to him.

With a Republican-controlled Congress currently doing nothing to protect our democracy, it’s up to the courts to preserve the critical checks and balances and keep us free,” Myrick mentioned in a press release. “Until Trump fully reverses course and recognizes that he is not a king, we cannot allow him to put any lifetime judges on our federal courts.”

The White House didn’t reply to a request for touch upon when Trump plans to formally ship Hermandorfer’s nomination to the Senate.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-first-judicial-nominee-whitney-hermandorfer-scotus_n_6814de7ee4b08575d39c89e1