Pres. Trump has nominated some crazy folks for lifetime federal judgeships. Four have been rated unqualified by the ABA’s volunteer committee of some 160 lawyers on federal judicial nominations. One such nominee, Matthew Spencer Petersen was questioned by Sen. Kennedy (R-La). Mr. Petersen could not answer the most basic litigation questions. Mr. Petersen is just not qualified for a federal judgeship, or any judicial post. He admitted he has never tried a case, meaning never appeared in court as attorney for a client for a trial, has never conducted a bench trial (i.e. no jury), or a jury trial. He attended some 5 depositions, but did not conduct those depositions himself. He is just not qualified to deal with litigation. As a judge, he deals with litigation every day. He has never argued a motion in federal or state court. He has not reviewed the federal rules of evidence since law school.
He is not familiar with basic litigation devices, such as a motion in limine, a Daubert challenge, abstention doctrine, all basic litigation concepts.
He is currently working as a commissioner at the Federal Election Commission. Matthew Spencer Petersen. He admits up front his back ground is not in litigation. He was rated “not qualified” by the ABA, a rare enough event. See CBS news report.
I previously wrote about Pres. Trump’s questionable nominees here. We expect some degree of political advocacy when judges are nominated. But, this administration could not even find someone who could find his/her way to the court room?