TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jul 15, 2025

The U.S. Senate voted 46-42 on Monday to confirm Whitney Hermandorfer to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Bloomberg Law reports. Hermandorfer will replace Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, who announced plans last year to assume senior status upon confirmation of a successor. Hermandorfer directs the strategic litigation unit for the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. She has been on the forefront of a number of high-profile state cases including a near total ban on abortion, prohibition on certain medical treatments for transgender minors, and a challenge to the Biden administration’s rule extending anti-sex discrimination language to transgender students. She also signed Tennessee’s amicus brief in support of President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order and against universal injunctions. Prior to joining the attorney general’s office, Hermandorfer worked at Williams & Connolly and clerked for Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett, and now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.