Trump Nominates Whitney Hermandorfer to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
May 5, 2025, 3:34 pm CDT
Whitney Hermandorfer of the Tennessee Attorney General’s office speaks before a panel of judges in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by George Walker IV/The Associated Press)
In a strategic move signaling his intentions for judicial appointments, President Donald Trump has nominated Whitney Hermandorfer for a vacancy on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. This nomination marks Trump’s first judicial pick of his second term.
Hermandorfer, currently the director of the strategic litigation unit at the Tennessee Attorney General’s office, has a reputation for her legal acumen. In her role, she has defended Tennessee’s abortion restrictions and contested federal regulations that interpret Title IX protections for transgender students.
Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee’s Attorney General, lauded Hermandorfer as “a lawyer’s lawyer” and deemed her “one of the very best litigators in America.” Notably, she has clerked for Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett, as well as for Brett Kavanaugh during his time on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Hermandorfer holds a distinguished academic record, graduating from Princeton University, where she played as co-captain of the women’s basketball team. She also earned her law degree at the George Washington University Law School, ranking first in her class and serving as the editor-in-chief of the law review.
Her credentials have drawn attention from major media outlets, with The Wall Street Journal characterizing her qualifications as “conventionally conservative.” This nomination follows a comparatively slower pace for judicial nominations during Trump’s current term, contrasting sharply with the swift appointments made in the early days of his first term in 2017.
The vacancy she would fill was left by Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, highlighting the potential ideological shift in the court if Hermandorfer is confirmed.
As of now, the Senate’s response to Hermandorfer’s nomination remains to be seen, but her impressive background suggests that she could become a significant figure on the court if approved.
