U.S. District Judge Justin Walker, who joined the bench last year despite criticism over his lack of trial experience, is President Donald Trump’s pick to fill a soon-to-be-empty seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Walker, 38, currently a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, is widely praised by conservatives, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He will fill the seat currently held by Judge Thomas Griffith, whose departure from the court was announced in February.