President Donald Trump has nominated more unqualified judicial appointees than any other president so quickly into his first term, a whopping four out of 58, according to the nation’s preeminent legal group.
The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee of the Federal Judiciary, which has been evaluating judicial appointments since the 1950s, has assessed 50 of Trump’s 58 nominees and found four “not qualified.”
“It’s certainly unprecedented,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond law school and expert in judicial nominations.
The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has already approved three of the four unqualified judges, who are awaiting a simple majority confirmation vote in the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he will push through the Trump nominees.
Experts worry that if Trump succeeds in getting his unqualified nominees to the bench, the core of the federal judicial process will be hollowed out.