Christopher Landau Approved as Deputy Secretary of State

Landau is the second State Department nominee to receive Senate confirmation.

Earlier today, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published a bombshell story about being added to a Signal group chat alongside the country’s top national security officials to talk about active military operations. The U.S. Senate responded by confirmed two individuals to those executive branch departments - including the Number 2 official at the State Department.

In a 60-31 vote, Christopher Landau was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of State. The position has been vacant since January 2025, when Kurt Campbell resigned after serving since February 2024.

Nine Democrats and one Independent joined 50 Republicans in approving Landau’s nomination. 31 Democrats voted in opposition. Nine Senators did not vote.

Landau was nominated to this position by Trump in December 2024. He previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico from August 2019 to January 2021.

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Landau clerked for then-judge Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He then clerked for Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Thomas during the 1990 and 1991 terms. In 1993, he joined Kirkland & Ellis as an associate, becoming a partner in 1995. He led the firm’s appellate practice for 25 years until he left for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in 2018.

Over the course of his legal career, Landau has argued nine cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2017, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed him to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.