Trump nominees for judgeships face scrutiny of youth, lack of experience
President Donald Trump has started appointing judges to the federal bench, and they're facing scrutiny from Democrats and outside observers who question whether they are too young or unqualified to take their positions.
Whitney Hermandorfer, Trump's nominee for a seat on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, was the first to face the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 4. She's never been a judge, and said she has never tried a case to a jury verdict.
"I am concerned about the striking brevity of your professional record," Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, told Hermandorfer. He said she only graduated from law school 10 years, ago, but the judge she is being recommended to replace had 31 years on the bench before her nomination.
Coons pointed to a longtime standard from the American Bar Association that says federal judicial appointees should have at least 12 years of experience. While the association has long been involved in vetting judicial appointments, Attorney General Pam Bondi has said the association, which many conservatives criticize as too liberal, won't be involved.
Trump's nominees are being named at a time when his administration is seeking to broadly expand executive power through the use of executive orders and strategic firings. They have conservative records on issues such as abortion and transgender rights, and could broadly tip the judiciary more toward his agenda.
Of the five lawyers who were scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for their confirmation hearings Wednesday, only one, Cristian Stevens, is a sitting judge. Hermandorfer specializes in appeals for the Tennessee attorney general. Joshua Devine and Maria Lanahan work for the Missouri attorney general, and Zachary Bluestone works for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
The liberal group Alliance for Justice opposes the nomination of Divine, for example, to be U.S. District Court judge for the eastern and western districts of Missouri. He's currently the solicitor general of Missouri, who earned his law degree in 2016. He's challenged former President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness programs, and defended restrictions on abortion and transgender health. The group also opposes Bluestone, who finished his law degree in 2016.
Mike Davis, whose conservative Article III Project backs Trump's judicial nominees, told Reuters that Trump "doesn't need to appease the D.C. establishment with weak and timid judges."
"He is picking bold and fearless judges," Davis said.
During the hearing, Coons asked how she would handle a hypothetical situation in which U.S. Marshals refused to implement her court order.
"That would, as a probably junior appellate judge, be something that I would look to my colleagues and whatever governing rules or precedents would govern that situation," she said.
But Republicans widely praised Hermandorfer's resume, which shows she clerked for Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Thomas Alito in their current roles, and worked Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who now sits on the high court, when he was an appeals court judge.
Sen.Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, joked that he would filibuster Hermandorfer's nomination out of jealousy that she clerked for three Supreme Court justices, and Sen. Ashley Moody, a Republican from Florida, said youth can bring tenacity to the bench and efficiency to moving cases along.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, signaled that the criticism about Hermandorfer's experience at the trial level wasn't relevant because she's up for an appeals court job. Instead, he asked her how many appellate cases she's handled.
"I have litigated probably over 100 appellate cases," Hermandorfer answered.
Contributing: Reuters