Trump's nominees for federal court even irk GOP friends
The lack of experience and the quality of candidates US President Donald Trump has nominated for senate approval to lifetime appointments in federal courts are even irking Republican senators.
Matthew Petersen, Trump’s nominee for the circuit court of the District of Columbia, was grilled by Republican Senator John Kennedy over basic points of legal doctrine last week, only for the nominee to confess embarrassingly that he does not know the answers and lacks experience in the areas mentioned by the senator.
During the hearing, Petersen had to acquiesce on many occasions that his "background was not in litigation," despite the role he was up for. "I understand the challenge that would be ahead of me if I were fortunate enough to become a district court judge," he confessed.
Despite his apparent grilling of Petersen, Kennedy’s office declined to answer on whether or not he would ultimately vote for Petersen’s confirmation.
“In the past year, I have supported nearly every one of President Trump’s picks, but I don’t blindly support them,” Kennedy told the Guardian in a statement. “I ask questions that I expect them to be able to answer. In doing so, I’m just doing my job.”
The video of the polite yet devastating encounter surfaced on the net as the White House gave up on two of Trump's nominees for the federal bench. Trump will not pursue the nominations of Brett Talley to a district court slot in Alabama and Jeff Mateer to a district court post in Texas.
The White House's decision came after panel chairman Senator Chuck Grassley said last week that he had urged the White House to drop Talley's bid and to reconsider Mateer's nomination.
Talley had never tried a case before in court and was rated by the American Bar Association as unqualified. Jeff Mateer was removed following comments that have surfaced where he called transgender children part of "Satan's plan."
Trump has nominated judges at a record pace. In his first year in office, he has seen six nominees confirmed to district court slots and 12 nominees confirmed to circuit courts.
This includes Leonard Steven Grasz, who also received a “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association when he was confirmed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals last week.
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