Judge J.P. Boulee, DeKalb County Superior Court. (Photo John Disney/ ALM)

President Donald Trump announced Monday his intent to nominate DeKalb County Superior Court Judge J.P. Boulee to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Georgia's Republican U.S. senators immediately signaled their approval.

Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and David Perdue, R-Ga., today released the following statements regarding Trump's announcement of his intent to nominate Judge J.P. Boulee of Decatur, Georgia, to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta:

“In addition to his service on the Superior Court, Judge Boulee has served our country in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps and as an attorney,” Isakson said in a news release Monday evening. “He has earned his reputation as a fair judge who is hardworking, and he is respected on both sides of the political aisle. I look forward to working with Judge Boulee as his nomination proceeds in the Senate.”

“Throughout his time as a judge on the Superior Court of DeKalb County and as a JAG officer in the U.S. Army, Judge Boulee has served Georgia and the country with distinction,” Perdue said. “President Trump has chosen an outstanding legal professional to fill this judicial vacancy in Georgia. Judge Boulee is immensely qualified for this role, and I am delighted to work with him through the confirmation process.”

Trump's pick pulls a name off the short list of nominees now on Gov. Nathan Deal's desk for an opening on the the Georgia Supreme Court.

Deal appointed Boulee to the DeKalb County Superior Court bench in 2015. Previously, Boulee spent 14 years in private practice with Jones Day and served four years in the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General Corps.

A stack of letters recommending Boulee to the state Judicial Nominating Commission for the Supreme Court job praised him for starting and presiding over a veterans' court that helps servicemen and servicewomen who've been arrested by offering counseling, treatment and mentoring.

Among those recommending Boulee for the Supreme Court is Chief Justice P. Harris Hines—whose pending retirement creates the opening the governor has yet to fill. In a letter simply signed “Harris,” Hines said, “I know J.P. personally and professionally. He is a person of ability and integrity and is most qualified to sit upon this bench. I hope the Commission will give him careful consideration.”

Frank Strickland and Anne Lewis of Strickland Brockington Lewis, also chairman and president, respectively, of the Atlanta Lawyers chapter of the influential Federalist Society, wrote together to recommend Boulee for the Supreme Court, noting he serves on their board of advisers, and calling him “considered, a hard worker, and unfailingly courteous.”

Georgia-Pacific GC Tye Darland praised Boulee's “constitutional originalism beliefs.”

T.C. Spencer Pryor of Alston & Bird noted Boulee's experience in commercial litigation and white collar defense and praised his “temperament and conservative judicial philosophy.”

“J.P. is what, ultimately, all of us should want in a judge: fair and hardworking,” DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said, adding he does not lean to either side of a case but works diligently to “get to the right answer.”

Trump's announcement Monday also made note that Boulee served as a law clerk to Judge Orinda D. Evans of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, and that he earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Washington and Lee University, and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law.