Danielle Hunsaker testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearing to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, on Wednesday. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM.
Danielle Hunsaker, a former clerk for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, got a step closer Wednesday to filling the seat left open on the court when O’Scannlain took senior status in 2016.
Hunsaker said in her prepared remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that being confirmed as O’Scannlain’s successor would be “a highlight for me in my life,” although she said “the prospect of filling his shoes is daunting.” Hunsaker, whose father worked in Oregon’s timber and construction industry, and whose mother homeschooled her, answered largely friendly questions about her textualist approach to statutory interpretation from Republican Senators on the committee.
