I just want to second my Ethics and Public Policy Center colleague Mike Fragoso’s celebration of the news that President Trump will nominate Whitney Hermandorfer to a seat on the Sixth Circuit.
Hermandorfer is currently director of the strategic litigation unit in the Tennessee attorney general’s office. I have become familiar with her and her outstanding work through the many important and contentious matters that she has handled—including the case of United States v. Skrmetti now awaiting decision in the Supreme Court.
Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti, who has made his office a national powerhouse, hails Hermandorfer as “an absolute rock star” of a nominee:
“The State of Tennessee has trusted Whitney Hermandorfer over and over with complex cases of national significance. She has never let us down. Her leadership of Tennessee’s Strategic Litigation Unit sets a high bar of excellence at every level of the federal judiciary, all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States. She has led not just teams of Tennessee attorneys but broad coalitions of states from across the country. President Trump has selected a lawyer’s lawyer for this important role. Whitney Hermandorfer’s unwavering commitment to the rule of law, her exacting analytical rigor, and her unshakeable optimism will serve our country well.”
President Trump has made quite an impressive mark with his first appellate pick, just as he did eight years ago with his selection of Amul Thapar, also to the Sixth Circuit.