President-elect Donald Trump is considering nominating either Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sarah Keeton Campbell, Federal District Judge Katherine Crytzer, or former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Commissioner James Danly to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that opened up with the announcement earlier this year by Sixth Circuit Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch she intended to take senior status, sources familiar with the process told The Tennessee Star.
Campbell was appointed to the five-member Tennessee State Supreme Court in February, 2022 by Governor Bill Lee. A graduate of Duke University School of Law in 2009, she is widely considered a highly effective, conservative judge. Prior to her appointment to Tennessee’s high court, Campbell served as a law clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito and Judge William H. Pryor Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Campbell is a member of the Federalist Society.
Crytzer is currently a United States district judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee. She is a 2006 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and a 2009 graduate of the George Mason University School of Law (now known as the Antonin Scalia School of Law).
She clerked for Judge Raymond Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy at the Department of Justice.
Danly is currently an attorney in private practice with the law firm of Skadden, Arps in Washington D.C. A graduate of Yale University, he received his J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University Law School. A former Army officer, he served two deployments in Iraq and is a former Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Sources tell The Star that there is no current frontrunner for the nomination, and that Campbell, Cryer, and Danly are the only three candidates under consideration.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit handles appeals of federal district court decisions in the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan; and is located in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The issue of the appointment of judges to federal district courts and the U.S. Courts of Appeals has become politically heated after a recent deal between outgoing Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (R-NY) fell apart. In that deal, McConnell agreed to push through confirmations of federal district court judges endorsed by Schumer and in return, Schumer agreed to withdraw the nomination of a candidate for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to replace a judge there who had earlier announced his decision to take early retirement.
The now defunct deal, struck in late November after the results of the presidential election were known, was described by CNN at the time as a move “that will smooth the path for Democrats to confirm several of President Joe Biden’s district court nominees, averting Republican procedural tactics that significantly slowed down the process, in exchange for ending efforts to confirm four pending appeals court nominees.”:
Liberal court activists are already bashing the agreement, reached late Wednesday night, for how it will aid President-elect Donald Trump’s ability to pick up on his makeover of federal circuit courts when he returns to the White House.
However, the four Biden appellate nominees already faced tough odds of confirmation, with some, like 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Adeel Mangi, facing opposition among Democrats as well.
“The trade was four circuit nominees — all lacking the votes to get confirmed — for more than triple the number of additional judges moving forward,” a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
The deal fell apart when two federal district judges rescinded their decisions to take senior status after the November 5 election of former President Trump to a second term.
Then on Monday, the Fourth Circuit judge who had earlier announced his decision to take senior status, Judge James Wynn, rescinded that decision, depriving President-elect Trump of the opportunity to name his replacement.
Senate Republicans reacted strongly to the post-election decisions by these federal judges to rescind their earlier decisions to take senior status.
“Judge Wynn’s brazenly partisan decision to rescind his retirement is an unprecedented move that demonstrates some judges are nothing more than politicians in robes,” Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) said of Wynn’s rescission.
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Michael Patrick Leahy is the founder and CEO of the Star News Network, which includes The Tennessee Star. Follow Leahy on X at @michaelpleahy.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that there are three candidates under consideration to be nominated for the open position of judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
