‘A Benchmark Of Excellence’: Senate Confirms First Judge Of Trump’s Second Term

In a decisive victory for President Donald Trump, the GOP-led Senate confirmed on Monday the first judicial nominee of his second term.

Whitney Hermandorfer, of Tennessee, prevailed in her bid to become a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit by a 46-42 vote along party lines. She is poised to replace Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, an Obama pick. A dozen members of the upper chamber did not vote.

The confirmation of Hermandorfer to join the Cincinnati-based bench that hears appeals from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee is “a boon to the federal judiciary,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said in a statement.

“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,” Grassley added. “I was proud to lead Ms. Hermandorfer’s nomination through the Senate Judiciary Committee and am confident she will be an excellent federal judge.”

When Trump nominated Hermandorfer earlier this year, the White House said that she was the director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General, had previously served as an associate at Williams & Connolly, LLP in Washington, D.C., and boasted experience working as a law clerk to Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett of the Supreme Court, now-Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh when he was a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The White House also noted that Hermandorfer earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Princeton University, where she was co-captain of the women’s varsity basketball team, earned her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School, where she graduated summa cum laude and first in her class, and was editor-in-chief of the George Washington University Law Review.

“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 said in a post on Truth Social in May. “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!”

Democrats warned that Hermandorfer was too green and might give into politics.

“Senate Republicans just confirmed their first judicial nominee of Trump 2.0,” Senate Judiciary ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) said on X. “Whitney Hermandorfer is inexperienced and partisan – with a record that repeatedly put Donald Trump ahead of the law. This is the playbook we must watch for, call out, and vote down.”

When Hermandorfer testified during her confirmation hearing last month, she contended that judges should adhere to boundaries established under the Constitution. That came as Republicans had been pushing for impeachment of some members of the federal judiciary who were ruling against some of Trump’s actions in a way they believed had waded into activism.

“It 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,” Hermandorfer said.

Hermandorfer later advanced out of the Judiciary Committee by a 12-10 vote. Other Trump nominees for judgeships were also reported favorably to the full Senate and could be confirmed in the days and weeks to come. If Trump’s second term is like his first, he still has more than a couple hundred judicial appointments to go.

“Tennessee native — Judge Whitney Hermandorfer — is the first judicial nominee confirmed by the Senate in [Trump’s] second term,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said in a post on X after the final vote on Monday. “She will set a benchmark of excellence for future judicial nominees — President Trump could not have made a better choice. Congratulations, Judge Hermandorfer!”

Grassley’s team said that during the first six months of Trumps’ second term, the Senate has confirmed 21 members of Trump’s Cabinet, “putting his team in place faster than the last three incoming administrations.” It also pointed out that the upper chamber has so far confirmed 89 of his civilian nominees, “outpacing the first Trump administration,” and confirmed 12 ambassador nominees, “which is more than the incoming Biden, first Trump and George W. Bush administrations.”