Keep packing those courts

The American Justice system just keeps being degraded. Thanks, Republicans!

The Senate narrowly confirmed Jonathan Kobes as a federal appeals court judge on Tuesday, brushing aside the conclusion of the American Bar Association that he was unqualified for the position.

The association had cited his inability to provide sufficient writing samples that were “reflective of complex legal analysis” or sophisticated “knowledge of the law.”

Mr. Kobes, a 44-year-old aide to Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, became the second judicial nominee appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate whom the association has deemed unqualified, with Vice President Mike Pence casting a vote to break a 50-to-50 tie.

Mr. Kobes is only the latest in a cadre of White House nominees to the federal bench who have drawn concern, including five other nominees who received the same unqualified rating. Others were rated as qualified but carried with them politically or racially insensitive remarks from their past that resurfaced during their confirmations, including one who wrote in an online forum that the nation’s commitment to diversity was tantamount to accepting “lower standards.”

[...]

The nominees are deeply conservative and often white, young and male.

[...]

Jeff Mateer, a district court nominee who was later dropped, described transgender children as evidence of “Satan’s plan.” Mr. Mateer and another district court nominee, Matthew Kacsmaryk, wrote a brief to the Department of Health and Human Services that sought to roll back civil rights protections for transgender people, citing a scientist at Johns Hopkins University who argued that the “sense of being transgendered constitutes a mental disorder.” Advanced by the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Kacsmaryk is waiting for the full Senate to take up his nomination.

[...]

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, blistered the Kobes nomination. “He’s never been a judge, has tried only SIX cases, and has argued only ONE appeal — 15 years ago,” she wrote on Twitter. “Kobes has filed briefs in only two appeals, yet he’s been nominated to serve on an appellate court where he would write dozens of opinions a year. Circuit courts are where most Americans receive final justice. They deserve to have qualified, experienced judges presiding.”

[...]

The judicial renaissance, led by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has energized a party wowed by the number of judges placed on the federal bench — two have risen to the Supreme Court and 30 will have made it to appeals courts by the end of the year.

[...]

“We’ve lost a couple who have become controversial, but you know we’ve approved 99 percent of the judges that have been set up,” Mr. McConnell told the Kentucky radio station on Friday. “I think that by and largely the administration has done a good job of vetting judges before they’ve come up.”

[...]

Mr. McConnell has come to define his legacy by his ability to transform the judiciary, calling the confirmations “the most significant, long-term contribution we are making to the country."

  NYT

Yeah, congratulations on dragging the American justice system down, asshat.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.