Jeff Mateer, a top lawyer for the state of Texas who has described transgender children as evidence of “Satan’s plan,” will not become a federal judge.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that the nominations of Mateer and a controversial Alabama nominee, Brett Talley, were dead. A White House aide confirmed to The Dallas Morning News that “both Talley and Mateer will not be moving forward.”
One day earlier, Grassley became the first Republican senator to openly oppose the nominations. But the setback seemed isolated.
Mateer serves as first assistant to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Before that he worked for a conservative group that promotes religious freedom. President Donald Trump nominated Mateer on Sept. 7 to fill a vacancy based in Sherman, in the Eastern District of Texas, which handles cases from Plano to Beaumont.
The Mateer nomination drew fierce opposition from Democrats and gay rights activists, who painted him as a religious extremist. They welcomed news that his shot at a lifetime post as a federal judge had ended.