Tag: Trump unqualified judicial nominee

‘Not Qualified’: Trump Pushing Inexperienced, Ultra-Right Judicial Nominee

Another unqualified Donald Trump judicial pick, Justin Walker, is making his way through the Senate.

Given the makeup of the Senate and the GOP’s unyielding commitment to agreeing to any of Trump’s nominees, no matter how unfit, there’s every reason to believe he’ll be confirmed. His nomination just cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee with unanimous support from the GOP in spite of his lack of qualifications.

Walker, who Trump nominated to the federal bench for the Western District of Kentucky, is only 37 years old, which means he could be on the federal bench for 40 years or more. He doesn’t bring any real experience to the court, but he does bring modern conservative credentials: He was instrumental in discrediting Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during the confirmation hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh. During those hearings, Walker did over 70 media hits to defend Kavanaugh and attack Ford.

View the complete October 19 article by Lisa Needham on the National Memo website here.

Trump Judicial Pick Disputes Allegation That He Lied To Senate About Voter Intimidation Plan

The following article by Same Levine was posted on the Huffington Post website December 21, 2017:

A former Justice Department official raised questions about Thomas Farr’s Senate testimony.

Thomas Farr, nominated for a federal judgeship, denies that he knew about a 1990 voter intimidation scheme before it was executed. Credit: CSPAN

One of President Donald Trump’s picks for a federal judgeship is pushing back on allegations that he lied to the Senate about his knowledge of a voter intimidation scheme in North Carolina in 1990 ― but he now acknowledges he attended a meeting to discuss “ballot security” shortly before the election.

Thomas Farr, now nominated for a district court seat in North Carolina, served as a lawyer to Sen. Jesse Helms’ (R-N.C.) 1990 campaign. Shortly before Election Day that autumn, the campaign sent more than 100,000 postcards to black voters containing incorrect information about voter qualifications and warning that voter fraud was punishable by up to five years in prison.

Continue reading “Trump Judicial Pick Disputes Allegation That He Lied To Senate About Voter Intimidation Plan”

That painful exchange between a Trump judicial pick and a GOP senator, annotated

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website December 15, 2017:

President Trump’s U.S. District nominee Matthew S. Petersen could not answer routine law questions during a hearing on Dec. 13. (Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse/Twitter)

The brooding controversy over President Trump’s judicial picks spilled over Wednesday in an exchange between one of those nominees and a Republican senator who was clearly unhappy with the nominee’s lack of relevant experience. And the video has now gone viral.

Just after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter urging reconsideration of two nominees — both were later pulled — fellow Judiciary Committee member John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) went after district court judge nominee Matthew Spencer Petersen as any prosecutor might: with a series of questions designed to make his point. The point: That Petersen doesn’t know things a federal judge ought to. Continue reading “That painful exchange between a Trump judicial pick and a GOP senator, annotated”

Questions About The Law In Disastrous Hearing

The following article by Ed Mazza was posted on the Huffington Post website December 15, 2017:

Matthew Spencer Petersen admits to “the challenge that would be ahead of me.”

One of President Donald Trump’s nominees to a lifetime seat on a U.S. district court struggled to answer basic questions about law during his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday. Continue reading “Questions About The Law In Disastrous Hearing”