Trump judicial nominee fumbles basic questions about the law

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Retweeted by David Fahrenthold: https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold

This is the definition of a nightmare Senate confirmation hearing: Trump judicial nominee fumbles basic questions about the law

Link to tweet

Morning Mix

Trump judicial nominee fumbles basic questions about the law

By Derek Hawkins December 15 at 6:17 AM

Nomination hearings for U.S. district judges tend to be dry affairs that offer little in the way of mass entertainment — in other words, they’re not typically the stuff of viral videos.

But a clip of one of President Trump’s federal judicial nominees struggling to answer rudimentary questions about the law garnered well more than 1 million views in a matter of hours on Thursday night and stoked speculation that another of the president’s nominations might get derailed.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) shared footage of Matthew Petersen, a nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, getting quizzed by Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) on basic aspects of trial procedure during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

For five painfully awkward minutes, Petersen, a member of the Federal Election Commission and a lawyer with no trial experience, fumbled with Kennedy’s questions, visibly uncomfortable as the lawmaker pressed him about how things work in a federal courtroom. ... “Hoo-boy,” Whitehouse wrote in a widely circulated tweet of the exchange, seizing on the moment for maximum political effect.

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Derek Hawkins is a reporter with The Washington Post's Morning Mix. Follow @d_hawk

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Hoo-boy is right.

I'm more qualified than this guy, and I'm not qualified. I haven't practiced law in 20 years, but I know what the Daubert rule is, and the abstention doctrine, and I've taken depositions (by myself), argued motions in state and federal court, and have done a few trials. I've read the rules of civil procedure and the rules of evidence many times since law school - but there's no way in hell I'd consider myself to be qualified to be a federal judge. So where are they getting these people, and who told Trump this guy was even slightly qualified?

[Judi Lynn]

2. It seems he believes all it takes is his order to make things happen, no questions asked. n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

3. First day of Law School for Elle Woods

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I don't get why they would subject that poor schmuck to such humiliation.

Or why he would allow himself to be subjected to it, knowing he wasn't qualified to be a federal judge. If someone came to me and asked me if I wanted to be a federal judge, I'd say, hell, yeah, but I'm not qualified and I don't want a bunch of senators exposing me to ridicule on Twitter.