Republican race to the bottom

Examples are rampant of the Trump administration appointing unqualified people to important jobs.   We are witnessing a truly amazing race to the bottom.

The latest example is a nominee for a lifetime federal district judge position, Brett Talley.   He has practiced law for only three years and has never tried a case in court.   One of his accomplishment is his blogging, in which he rails against liberals, referring to Clinton as "Hillary Rotten Clinton" and suggesting that she should be jailed.

Proponents point to his being a Harvard Law School graduate, having clerked for two federal judges, been a protege for Alabama interim senator Luther Strange, and having worked in the Justice Department office that selects judicial nominees.

The American Bar Association issues ratings of federal judicial nominees, based on their qualifications and experience.   Despite the Harvard law degree, Mr. Talley was rated "not qualified" by a unanimous vote of the board.

Yet this same Brett Talley, with only three years practice and no trial experience,  was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and recommended to a full Senate confirmation vote for a life-time appointment as a federal district judge.  All 9 Democrats on the committee voted no;  all 11 Republicans voted yes.   Now it's up to the full senate.

Just to put this in perspective:   it was a federal district judge who issued the order that stopped the implementation of President Trump's immigration ban executive order.   It is not an inconsequential position.

To be fair to the Judiciary Committee, there was also another Trump nominee for a district judgeship, who also received the ABA's "not qualified" rating;  and his nomination was withdrawn.  Maybe he wasn't Trumpian enough to offset the ABA's judgment.

But, think about this.   Trump nominated two people for lifetime, federal judgeships who were rated Not Qualified by fellow lawyers.  The ABA is a non-partisan, national association of attorneys and judges.  It has no legal authority;  it is offered as guidance.  Ratings are based on knowledge and experience of the law and on having a judicial temperament.

This is part of a bigger, long-range problem.   Trump's legal advisory team began, even before the inauguration, making a plan to fill federal judiciary vacancies with young, very conservative judges for these life-time appointments.   They purposely started with the Appeals Courts and have filled eight seats so far at that level -- an unprecedented number in such a short time.

Why were so many seats empty?   Because Republicans stopped holding hearings on any Obama appointments for important Appeals Court nominees two years before the end of his term -- just as they refused to even consider his Supreme Court nominee in his last year.   And they got away with it.

The position that Talley is up for is one step down from the Appeals Court level at the federal district court.   But their goal -- and it's perfectly legal -- is to shift the balance of the whole federal judiciary in a very conservative direction -- in the mold of Antonin Scalia, at best;  but, if necessary, "unqualified" will do.   For them, it's about numbers, not quality, not respect for the Constitution and the rule of law.

Trump has already put one young, very conservative man on the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch.  All this talk of Trump and the Republicans getting nothing done?  Not true.  They are overhauling the federal judiciary -- not with right of center justices, but with far right conservatives.

Ralph

New info:   Only several days after his Judiciary hearing, the news came out that Talley had failed to reveal a conflict of interest.   His wife is the Chief of Staff for White House lawyer Don McGahn, who is the primary official in charge of considering potential nominees to recommend to the president.  It's not just the fact of the conflict, but that he failed to disclose it on a questionnaire that specifically asks him to identify any family members that might cause conflict of interest.