The Senate Judiciary Committee for a second time this Congress has advanced President Donald Trump’s nominee for a federal court in Alaska.
By a 14-9, bipartisan vote, the panel approved natural resources attorney Aaron Peterson for an open seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. The committee last year favorably reported Peterson to the full Senate, but the clock ran out on his nomination.
If confirmed, Peterson would join a court that frequently decides environmental and energy cases and that is down to just one active judge after a former Trump appointee to the bench resigned in disgrace.
Since 2019, Peterson 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.
