Whitney Hermandorfer
{{Short description|American attorney}}
{{Infobox judge
| name = Whitney Downs Hermandorfer
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| education = Princeton University (AB)
George Washington University (JD)
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Whitney Downs Hermandorfer is an American attorney working as the director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in the Tennessee Attorney General's office. She has been nominated to serve as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Early life and education
Hermandorfer graduated from Princeton University with a minor in sociology summa cum laude. She received her Juris Doctor from George Washington University Law School and was Editor-in-Chief of The George Washington Law Review, where she was a recipient of the John Bell Larner Award for having the highest cumulative grade point average.{{cite news |title=Alumna Whitney Hermandorfer, JD '15, to Begin U.S. Supreme Court Clerkship |url=https://www.law.gwu.edu/alumna-whitney-hermandorfer-jd-15-begin-us-supreme-court-clerkship |access-date=May 2, 2025 |work=George Washington University |date=July 18, 2018}}
Career
Hermandorfer served as a law clerk for then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh while he served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as well as for Judge Richard Leon on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She later clerked for Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett on the United States Supreme Court. She also worked in private practice at Williams and Connolly and then at the Tennessee Attorney General's office as director of the newly formed strategic litigation unit under attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti.{{cite news |last1=Fragoso |first1=Michael |title=Great First Judge from Trump |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/great-first-judge-from-trump/ |access-date=May 2, 2025 |work=National Review |date=May 2, 2025}}
On May 2, 2025, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Hermandorfer to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to succeed Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, who had announced her intention to take senior status upon the confirmation of a successor. Hermandorfer was Trump's first judicial nominee of the second term.{{Cite web |last=Deese |first=Kaelan |date=2025-05-02 |title=Trump nominates first federal judge of his second term - Washington Examiner |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3398999/trump-nominates-first-federal-judge-second-term/ |access-date=2025-05-02 |language=en-US}}
References
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Category:21st-century American lawyers
Category:George Washington University Law School alumni
Category:Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
Category:Princeton University alumni
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