Senate panel approves Trump judicial nominee who has never tried a case

Civil rights groups are blasting the Senate Judiciary Committee for voting to confirm Brett J. Talley to a lifetime appointment on a federal court despite the fact that he has never tried a case.

In a report in the Los Angeles Times, civil rights advocates express bewilderment that the 36-year-old could be confirmed given his lack of experience. 

Talley, a former Alabama deputy solicitor general, has practiced law for three years. Judiciary approved his nomination to serve on the federal district court for the Middle District of Alabama in an 11-9, party-line vote.

{mosads}”He’s practiced law for less than three years and never argued a motion, let alone brought a case. This is the least amount of experience I’ve seen in a judicial nominee,” Kristine Lucius, executive vice president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, told the Times.

A judicial rating committee in the American Bar Association reportedly unanimously declared Talley “not qualified” ahead of his confirmation, the Times wrote. 

Talley admitted during his confirmation hearing that he had only participated once in a federal court hearing, as part of the legal team in a case during his time as the deputy solicitor general.

The nominee also previously worked as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, which considers judicial nominees. Talley first worked as Alabama’s deputy solicitor general under Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), who was appointed to the seat when Jeff Sessions left to become the U.S. attorney general.