Ninth Circuit Pick Has Defended Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks

A high-ranking environment lawyer from the Justice Department is up for a lifetime appointment on the powerful Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

President Donald Trump on Sept. 20 announced the nomination of Lawrence VanDyke, who is a deputy assistant attorney general in DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, overseeing federal litigation involving natural resources.

VanDyke joined the Justice Department in April and has helped defend against several high-profile lawsuits involving the Trump administration’s efforts to bolster energy development on public lands, including litigation over oil and gas development near New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon; federal royalty rates for production ...