President Donald Trump announced late on Thursday his first judicial nomination since returning to the White House as he moved to appoint a lawyer serving under Tennessee's Republican attorney general to a seat on a federal appeals court.
Trump said in a social media post that he is nominating Whitney Hermandorfer, who has clerked for three members of the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority, to fill a vacancy on the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The seat became available for him to fill after Democrat President Joe Biden's own nominee to the 6th Circuit failed to secure confirmation before he left office, following fierce opposition from Tennessee's two Republican senators.
Trump made 234 judicial appointments during his first term in office, including three members of the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority.
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