Whitney Hermandorfer

On May 7, 2025, President Trump nominated Whitney Hermandorfer to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She was confirmed on July 14, 2025.

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Introduction

On May 7, 2025, President Trump nominated Whitney Hermandorfer to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Hermandorfer is nominated to fill the seat to which President Biden nominated the highly qualified and experienced Karla Campbell in May 2024.

Campbell regrettably lost out on a final confirmation vote because of a December 2024 “deal” struck by Senate leadership to sacrifice any effort to confirm President Biden’s remaining circuit court nominees. AFJ strongly supported Campbell, who is a celebrated union-side labor lawyer, with unquestionable qualifications, renowned for her diligent work to advance employee rights.

In stark contrast, Hermandorfer is a conservative idealogue, whose brief career is defined by efforts to axe our fundamental rights and diminish independent regulatory rulemaking that protects all Americans. This is evident throughout her work as a clerk to far-right judges and justices, as an associate at a business-side law firm, and as the director of the “strategic litigation unit” at the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, all of which are explored in detail in this report.

At just 37 years old, Hermandorfer is one of the youngest people nominated to serve on a federal appeals court in the 21st century. With under ten years’ experience in the legal profession, Hermandorfer lacks the twelve years’ experience recommended by the American Bar Association. The ABA’s recommended minimum of twelve years of experience in the practice of law is for all federal judges, let alone those nominated to the more powerful courts of appeals.

Additionally, Hermandorfer’s alarming activism in the conservative legal movement extends beyond her legal practice. She currently sits on the Federalist Society’s Executive Committee for the Administrative Law & Regulation Practice Group and is a member of Leonard Leo’s Teneo Network, a shadowy right-wing group which seeks to “crush liberal dominance.” In other words, Hermandorfer has direct ties to far-right billionaire efforts to capture, corrupt, and seize the federal judiciary for personal, monetary, and ideological gain.

Biography

Hermandorfer was born in Clearwater, Florida in 1987 and received her B.A. from Princeton University in 2009. From 2010–2012, Hermandorfer worked as research assistant at The American Enterprise Insitute, a conservative think tank in Washington D.C. There, she advocated for enhanced corporate involvement in public education and authored a controversial blog post criticizing the “Save Our Schools” movement.

Hermandorfer graduated with a J.D. from the George Washington University School of Law in 2015. After graduating law school, Hermandorfer worked as a law clerk and, subsequently, as an associate at Williams and Connolly LLP in Washington D.C. for a year before undertaking various judicial clerkships.

Hermandorfer has clerked for three of the most staunchly conservative justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court, all of whom are responsible for stripping away some of our most cherished constitutional rights and taking a sledgehammer to fundamental principles of democracy. In 2016, she clerked for Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Hermandorfer then undertook a clerkship with Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia from 2017 to 2018. After that, from 2018 to 2019, she clerked for Justice Samuel Alito of the U.S. Supreme Court, before returning to Williams and Connolly LLP as an associate for one year. Hermandorfer left private practice again to clerk for Justice Amy Coney Barrett from 2020 to 2021 — Barrett’s first year on the Supreme Court.

Following her clerkships, in 2021, Hermandorfer returned to Williams & Connolly LLP as an associate. She left the firm again in 2023 to join the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, where she works as the director of strategic litigation.

Legal Experience

After graduating from law school, Whitney Hermandorfer joined Williams & Connolly LLP, a large business-side law firm, where she focused on appellate and administrative litigation. She then served as a law clerk to several prominent jurists, including Justice Samuel Alito in 2018 and Justice Amy Coney Barrett in 2020. She also clerked for Judge Brett Kavanaugh—now Justice Kavanaugh—and Judge Richard Leon. After those clerkships, she rejoined Williams & Connolly LLP before taking her current position at the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office.

Hermandorfer has practiced law for less than 10 years, a shocking lack of experience for an appointment to a lifetime judicial position that has the final say on most federal litigation in four states. The American Bar Association generally considers 12 years of legal experience to be the bare minimum to be considered qualified for the federal bench.

Legal Views 

Conclusion 

Whitney Hermandorfer’s track record of targeting our fundamental rights in pursuit of extremist political causes, coupled with her glaring lack of professional legal experience, is deeply troubling and demonstrates that she is categorically unfit for a federal judgeship, especially one on an appellate court.

The American people deserve judges who are fair-minded, qualified, and will stand up for our rights, the Constitution, and the rule of the law. Hermandorfer possesses none of those qualities or qualifications. Her repeated attacks on reproductive freedoms, LGBTQ+ equality, immigrants’ rights, labor rights, consumer protections, and our public safety — many of which are clearly unconstitutional — as well as her startling loyalty to Trump, serves as an alarming indicator of her agenda should she take the bench.

We urge all senators to outright oppose Hermandorfer’s nomination to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.