WASHINGTON (CN) - President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the nominations of 10 new judges, including one to the Ninth Circuit and seven to courts across New York.
Ryan Nelson, Trump's pick for a Ninth Circuit vacancy, currently works as general counsel for multi-level marketing company Melaleuca Inc., which sells wellness products.
Nelson was initially nominated to serve as solicitor for the Department of the Interior in 2017. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Nelson in January, but Democrats have held up his nomination and prevented a vote in the full Senate.
Trump withdrew Nelson's nomination on Thursday, shortly after announcing his intent to put him up for the Ninth Circuit vacancy.
Nelson is a veteran of the Senate Judiciary Committee, having served as special counsel for Supreme Court nominations to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions. Nelson also spent time in the Bush administration, having worked as deputy assistant attorney general for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice.
In addition, Nelson served as deputy general counsel to the Office of Management and Budget and also spent time in private practice at the Washington, D.C., firm Sidley Austin.
Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, both Republicans, praised Nelson's nomination in a statement on Thursday, lauding his experience and Idaho roots.
"Throughout his diverse legal career, Ryan developed the necessary tools to serve the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as a sound and principled jurist," Risch said in a statement. "A native Idahoan, Ryan will bring a valuable perspective to the court - upholding our way of life, respecting the rule of law and rejecting judicial activism."
Most of the nominees Trump announced on Thursday would serve on federal courts in New York, with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York receiving four new nominees.
Rachel Kovner currently serves as assistant to the solicitor general at the Justice Department, having joined the Solicitor General's Office in 2013. A former clerk for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Kovner has argued 11 cases before the Supreme Court since joining the Justice Department.
Kovner also spent four years as a federal prosecutor in New York, working 10 felony trials and handling seven appeals at the Second Circuit, according to a White House press release.
Diane Gujarati similarly has experience as a federal prosecutor, as she currently serves as the deputy chief of the Criminal Division in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. President Barack Obama nominated her to serve as a judge on the Eastern District of New York, but the Republican controlled Senate took no action on her nomination. Trump has nominated her to the same position.
Gujarati has worked as a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York since 1999, rising to her current position in 2012. Before becoming a prosecutor, Gujarati worked as an associate at the New York firm Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Judge Gary Brown currently serves as a magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and has been nominated to become a district judge on the same court. Obama nominated Brown to the same position and the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved his nomination in November 2015, but he never received a vote from the full Senate.