President Donald Trump will nominate Judge Amul Thapar of Kentucky to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Thapar was part of Trump’s short list of potential selections for nomination to justiceship on the Supreme Court, where most recently Judge Neil Gorsuch was nominated to fill the vacancy opened by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Lexington Herald-Leader and Courier Journal describe the 47-year-old Thapar as “conservative" and aligned with the originalist Federalist Society.

The National Law Journal expressed praise for Thapar’s record:





A known conservative, Thapar has enjoyed longtime support from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. McConnell introduced Thapar at his confirmation hearing for the district court in 2007, calling him a "stellar prosecutor" who maintained a "reputation as a man of unquestioned ethics and integrity." He received the highest possible rating from the American Bar Association in 2008.

Thapar is well-respected in Kentucky, and known as a thoughtful, fair judge and a strong writer. He's ruled for and against major corporations — in 2010, he declined to block a Labor Department injunction against Massey Energy Co. for coal mine safety violations.

Thapar was born and raised in Detroit. His parents emigrated from India. He earned his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

A statement from the White House last Tuesday provides a brief background of Thapar:

If confirmed, Amul R. Thapar of Kentucky will serve as a Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The son of Indian-American immigrants, Judge Thapar serves on the District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. With his 2008 nomination by President George W. Bush and subsequent confirmation and appointment, Judge Thapar became the Nation’s first Article III judge of South Asian descent. Before his service on the bench, he was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Before that, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia. He began his legal career in private practice, after clerkships with Judge S. Arthur Spiegel on the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and then with Judge Nathaniel R. Jones of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judge Thapar received his BS from Boston College in 1991 and his JD from the University of California, Berkeley.



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