Judge Thomas Griffith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will retire later this year, paving the way for President Donald Trump to tap another conservative judge to sit on the influential appeals court.

The vacancy was posted on a website for the Administrative Office for the Courts.

Griffith was appointed to the seat by President George W. Bush in 2005. He was previously the Senate legal counsel.

The judge most recently made headlines with his opinion in the House's lawsuit seeking to compel testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn, in which he ruled the House Judiciary Committee did not have standing to bring forward the suit.

While Griffith's resignation does open up a seat on the court, it's unlikely to make a significant difference in the bench's composition of active judges. He is one of four Republican-appointed judges on the court, compared to seven judges tapped by Democratic presidents.

Griffith is also on the panel weighing the House Judiciary Committee's lawsuit seeking grand jury materials redacted from special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

Trump has appointed two other judges to the D.C. Circuit, Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao. Katsas was a deputy in the White House counsel's office.

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