"Sean Donahue’s nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of General Counsel advanced on a party-line vote despite Donahue lacking basic legal experience like taking a deposition or drafting a pleading."
"The Trump administration’s choice for the Environmental Protection Agency’s top lawyer has never taken a deposition, argued a motion or authored a legal pleading. On Wednesday, Republicans on a Senate committee advanced Sean Donahue’s nomination on a party-line vote.
The EPA arm he would lead, the Office of General Counsel, oversees the enforcement of environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
During Donahue’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in late March, Democrats pressed the nominee on his legal qualifications. Donahue told lawmakers his previous legal practice had mostly involved work as an associate at the law firm Phillips Lytle for 18 months before that firm fired him.
In response to a question on whether he knows what a motion in limine is—a motion to exclude or limit evidence or arguments—Donahue said shakily, “I do, vaguely, yes.”
Donahue also worked briefly at a solar energy company and served for three years in the first Trump administration, acting as a special advisor in the EPA, a non-legal position. Before that, he worked at the Florida Department of Financial Services. After President Donald Trump took office in 2025, Donahue returned to the EPA; his current position is senior advisor in the agency’s Office of the Administrator."
Katie Surma reports for Inside Climate News April 9, 2025.
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