McConnell is busy

Gotta get all those unqualified judges on federal benches before Republicans lose the Senate.

The Senate confirmed President Trump's 50th circuit court nominee on Wednesday despite the pick being rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Association (ABA).

Senators voted 51-44 to approve Lawrence VanDyke's nomination to be an appeals judge on the 9th Circuit. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined Democrats in opposing his nomination.

  The Hill

Too little, too late, Susan. That Kavanaugh vote sealed your fate.

VanDyke grabbed headlines in October when he started crying during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The emotional moment came when he was asked about concerns that the ABA brought forth about his treatment of LGBT people.

“I did not say that,” he said, fighting through tears. “I do not believe that. It is a fundamental belief of mine that all people are created in the image of God, and they should all be treated with dignity and respect.”

The tears worked for Kavanaugh, but really, this was unnecessary. The Senate GOP is going to put any ultra-right, young (Van Dyke is 47), jurist on the bench. 

Neither of his home-state senators, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) nor Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), returned their blue slips on the nomination. A blue slip is a sheet of paper that indicates if a home-state senator supports a nominee. Republicans made history by confirming the first circuit judge nominees who did not receive a blue slip from either home-state senator.

[...]

The ABA rated VanDyke, a former solicitor general in both Nevada and Montana, as “not qualified” following an investigation that included interviews with 60 individuals.

"Mr. VanDyke’s accomplishments are offset by the assessments of interviewees that Mr. VanDyke is arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to- day practice including procedural rules," the group wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The perfect candidate!

"There was a theme that the nominee lacks humility, has an 'entitlement' temperament, does not have an open mind, and does not always have a commitment to being candid and truthful," the ABA standing committee continued, noting that some interviewees "raised concerns about whether Mr. VanDyke would be fair to persons who are gay, lesbian, or otherwise part of the LGBTQ community."

Republican senators, during the committee hearing, dismissed the ABA's rating as a partisan attack because a member of the group's standing committee responsible for the 9th Circuit donated to one of VanDyke's political opponents.

That's a very tiny figleaf.

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