Senate confirms Trump's first judicial nominee of his second term [View all]
Source: Nashua Telegraph/AP
Jul 15, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s first judicial pick of his second term, voting to approve Whitney Hermandorfer as a judge for the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The confirmation of Hermandorfer, who worked for Tennessee’s attorney general, comes after the Democratic-led Senate under former President Joe Biden confirmed 235 federal judges and the Republican-led Senate in Trump’s first term confirmed 234 federal judges.
The two presidents each worked to reshape the judiciary, with Trump taking advantage of a high number of judicial vacancies at the end of President Barack Obama’s term and Democrats working to beat Trump’s number after he had the opportunity to nominate three Supreme Court justices.
So far in his second term, Trump has fewer vacancies to fill. While he inherited more than 100 vacancies from Obama, who was stymied by a Republican Senate in his final two years, Trump now has 49 vacancies to fill out of almost 900 federal judgeships. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said last week that the Senate would work to quickly confirm Trump’s judicial nominees, even though “we’re not facing the number of judicial vacancies this Congress we did during Trump’s first term.”
Hermandorfer, who was confirmed 46-42 along party lines, has defended many of Trump’s policies as director of strategic litigation for Tennessee’s attorney general, including his bid to end birthright citizenship. Democrats and liberal judicial advocacy groups criticized her as extreme on that issue and others, also citing her office’s defense of the state’s strict abortion ban.
Read more: https://www.nashuatelegraph.com/top-headlines/2025/07/15/senate-confirms-trumps-first-judicial-nominee-of-his-second-term/
Slid under the radar...
Senate Roll Call - https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00384.htm
(No (D) "YEAs" and 12 Not Voting, with 7 (R)s and 5 (D)s in that category)
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