The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced President Donald Trump’s nomination of a career natural resources attorney to fill an opening on a federal court in Alaska.
Aaron Peterson secured bipartisan support from the panel, which voted 14-8 to approve his nomination to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. The court currently has only one active judge on staff after another Trump appointee resigned from the bench amid a sexual harassment scandal.
If confirmed by the full Senate, Peterson would be positioned to decide legal battles on issues like offshore drilling permits and endangered species protections.
Peterson has spent much of his career working on environmental issues. Since 2019, he has been an assistant attorney general in the Natural Resources Section of the Alaska Department of Law’s Civil Division. He was previously statewide fish and wildlife prosecutor in the department’s Office of Special Prosecutions.
