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On Thursday, Republican Senators voted to confirm 37-year-old Justin Walker to a lifetime seat on a federal court in Kentucky.
Except, the American Bar Association had concluded he did not “have the requisite trial or litigation experience” to be a federal judge and deemed him to be not qualified for such a prestigious position.
This is a “rare and embarrassing” rating, as HuffPost senior politics reporter Jennifer Bendery tweeted:
A thing that happened today that won't get much attention: Senate Republicans confirmed *another* lifetime federal judge who earned a rare and embarrassing "not qualified" rating by the American Bar Association. https://t.co/v66vhGoBe2
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 24, 2019
Nevertheless, every Republican Senator present voted to confirm him, while every Democrat present voted no. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said:
“It seems the only reason Mr. Walker has been nominated for an austere judgeship is his membership in the Federalist Society.”
The non-partisan American Bar Association earlier noted the “absence of any significant trial experience” in Mr. Walker’s resume, and added:
“Mr. Walker has never tried a case as lead or co-counsel, whether civil or criminal…. In addition, based on review of his biographical information and conversations with Mr. Walker, it was challenging to determine how much of his ten years since graduation from law school has been spent in the practice of law.”
Justin Walker had previously clerked for Brett Kavanaugh and was a University of Louisville law professor.
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called him a “brilliant” and an “outstanding choice”.
According to The Huffington Post, this is the fifth time Republicans have confirmed a ‘not qualified’ person to the courts.
In contrast, President Obama did not nominate anyone who had been deemed ‘not qualified’ by the American Bar Association.
