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.
If confirmed by the full Senate, Donahue will lead a team of more than 200 attorneys and serve as a key liaison on environmental matters between the EPA, the Office of White House Counsel and the Department of Justice. He will also have the final authority on all legal interpretations within the agency. The role “is deeply influential in the direction, construction and defense of all EPA regulatory actions,” said C. Scott Fulton, who served as EPA general counsel under President Barack Obama.
Fulton added that the general counsel will likely play a central role in Trump’s second term—especially in the administration’s efforts to roll back regulations, shrink the EPA’s workforce and restructure agency programs.
The Trump administration’s environmental policies are already being challenged in court, with many more lawsuits expected over the next three and a half years. According to Avi Garbow, who also served as EPA general counsel under Obama, the role of the agency’s top lawyer is heavily focused on litigation.
“This is not merely an advisory role, or one that is policy-oriented, it’s a role that undoubtedly will require litigation chops and an understanding of how regulatory and policy decisions can best be defended in courts of law, working alongside government counsel at the Department of Justice,” Garbow said.
At the March confirmation hearings, Donahue acknowledged that his partner, Trent Morse, serves as deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of presidential personnel. In that role, Morse is responsible for vetting political appointees like Donahue.
The Trump administration has said one of its main priorities is to bring “merit-based opportunity” to the federal government and has moved to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs as part of that effort.
A Trump administration official told Inside Climate News in a written statement, “There is no conflict of interest. Trent Morse recused himself from anything related to Sean Donahue. Administrator Zeldin selected Sean, who went through the exact same interview process as other candidates.”
Republicans lauded Donahue’s work in the first Trump administration, and the White House said in a statement that his experience makes him “exceptionally qualified for this role.”
“He would have trouble getting an entry-level legal position in any of our offices.”
— Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) urged her colleagues to vote in favor of Donahue’s nomination on Wednesday, saying that his “prior service at the EPA and his private sector legal experience” made him qualified to lead the EPA’s Office of General Counsel.
“President Trump made a fantastic choice in selecting Sean to lead EPA’s Office of General Counsel,” said Molly Vaseliou, an EPA spokeswoman. “His years of public service to the American people at the federal and state government level is a boon to the agency. If confirmed, Sean will advance EPA’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment, Administrator Zeldin’s ‘Powering the Great American Comeback’ initiative, and the president’s agenda by ensuring the office provides the best legal advice.”
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said during the March confirmation hearing that Donahue “may be the most unfit nominee ever for the role of any federal agency’s general counsel,” adding, “He would have trouble getting an entry-level legal position in any of our offices.”
Most previous EPA general counsels, across Democratic and Republican administrations, have had decades of federal, private and environmental law experience before their nominations to the position.
On Wednesday, Whitehouse said of Donahue’s committee vote: “I will vote no, despite the fact that his manifest incompetence will probably work to our advantage.”
As general counsel, Donahue would be the key official navigating lawsuits against the EPA.
Donahue’s confirmation comes as the Trump administration is attempting to roll back scores of environmental protections, reshore polluting industries and confiscate billions of dollars of low-carbon energy grants issued to American businesses and organizations under the previous administration. Environmental regulation is one of the more complex areas of law because polluting human activities, and the ecosystems that U.S. laws aim to protect, are inherently complicated and dynamic.
Donahue’s nomination still requires approval from the full Senate.
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