U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced his plans to nominate five lawyers to open district seats in Southern California and tapped a state court judge from Oregon to fill a long-open seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The president's latest slate of judicial nominees includes three tapped for the Central District of California—current Superior Court Judges Fernando Aenlle-Rocha and Sandy Leal, and Jenner & Block's former Los Angeles managing partner Rick Richmond. Aenlle-Rocha, currently on the Los Angeles County Superior Court bench, was a litigation partner at White & Case prior to taking the bench in 2017 and before that had been a partner at McDermott Will & Emery. Leal, who currently sits on the Orange County Superior bench, was previously a deputy chief in the Central District's U.S. Attorney's office. Richmond, meanwhile, was a longtime partner at Kirkland & Ellis prior to joining Jenner & Block and founding the firm's LA presence.

Terrence Truax, Jenner & Block's managing partner said in an email statement that the firm owes Richmond "a tremendous debt of gratitude for his decade-long leadership during which he co-founded our Los Angeles office, grew our West Coast footprint and served as a role model embodying our firm's core values of excellence, collaboration, diversity and inclusion, and pro bono and public service."

"He will be missed," Truax added.

Trump has also put forward two new nominees in the Southern District of California—Associate Deputy Attorney General Adam Braverman and Jones Day partner Shireen Matthews. Braverman practiced at Goodwin Procter prior to his government service. Matthews, prior to joining Jones Day, had experience as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of California and as an associate at Latham & Watkins.

Also on Tuesday, the White House announced that it was putting forward Danielle Hunsaker, the presiding judge on the Washington County Circuit Court of Oregon, to fill the seat left vacant when Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain took senior status at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at the end of 2016. Hunsaker, who practiced at Larkins Vacura Kayser in Portland prior to taking the state bench in 2017, clerked for O'Scannlain earlier in her career.

Federal prosecutor Ryan Bounds, another O'Scannlain clerk, had been earlier nominated to fill the Oregon seat, but his nomination was withdrawn from the Senate floor just before a scheduled vote amid concerns that he didn't have enough votes for confirmation.

The Oregon seat is the only one currently open on the Ninth Circuit's 29-judge active bench. Ninth Circuit Judges Carlos Bea of California and Jay Bybee of Nevada, however, earlier this year announced their plans to take senior status. If Hunsaker is confirmed and the president also fills the seats currently occupied by Bybee and Bea, the Ninth Circuit would have 16 active judges appointed by Democratic presidents and 13 by Republican presidents.

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