Trump Taps Former Ohio Solicitor General for Sixth Circuit Seat

April 10, 2026, 12:20 AM UTC

President Donald Trump announced plans to nominate a former Ohio solicitor general to be a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

If confirmed, Benjamin “Ben” Flowers—now an attorney at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC—will become Trump’s eighth appointee on the Cincinnati, Ohio-based federal appeals court. Trump made the announcement through a social media post Thursday.

As solicitor general of Ohio, Flowers successfully argued at the US Supreme Court against the Biden-era OSHA Covid vaccine mandate.

Flowers has argued two other cases before the Supreme Court. He’s also won three cases before the en banc Sixth Circuit, according to his law firm bio.

He clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, as well as for Judge Sandra Ikuta of the Ninth Circuit. He’s also worked as an attorney at the law firms Jones Day and Sidley Austin.

Flowers will fill the seat currently held by Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, who said earlier this year he would take senior status—a form of semi-retirement for federal judges—on Oct. 1.


To contact the reporter on this story: Jacqueline Thomsen at jthomsen@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Seth Stern at sstern@bloomberglaw.com; John Crawley at jcrawley@bloomberglaw.com

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