President Donald Trump nominated Brett Talley to be a federal district judge even though he had had no courtroom experience and had received a unanimous rating of “not qualified” by a standing committee of the American Bar Association.
Talley, a 36-year-old deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, had only practiced law for three years and had never tried a case.
Critics of Talley also pounced on the fact that Talley’s wife, Annie Donaldson, worked as chief of staff to White House counsel Don McGahn. Talley did not disclose this relationship in a questionnaire that was required to be considered for the lifetime appointment as a district judge.
In addition, Talley once defended the Ku Klux Klan in an online post.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican and co-chair of the judicial committee, told the White House to withdraw Talley’s nomination.
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican who sits on the judicial committee, said he would vote against the confirmation of Talley because he had “never tried a lawsuit in his natural life.”
Talley’s interest in the supernatural life may also have raised concerns.
Talley, the author of horror novels who was once, according to a story in the Huffington Post, a paranormal activity investigator. In addition, he once tweeted that the solution to school shootings such as the one at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012 was “to stop being a society of pansies and man up.”
Talley was among four Trump appointees to receive the rare distinction of being rated unanimously “not qualified” by the American Bar Association.
