Panel approves judicial nominee with no trial experience

Brett Talley poses for a portrait at Holy Rood Cemetery on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014 in Washington, DC. Tally is a speechwriter and author. Brett Talley poses for a portrait at Holy Rood Cemetery on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014 in Washington, DC. Tally is a speechwriter and author. Photo: Washington Post Photo By Matt McClain Photo: Washington Post Photo By Matt McClain Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Panel approves judicial nominee with no trial experience 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

WASHINGTON — Brett Talley, President Trump’s nominee to be a federal judge in Alabama, has never tried a case, was unanimously rated “not qualified” by the American Bar Association’s judicial rating committee, has practiced law for only three years and, as a blogger last year, displayed a degree of partisanship unusual for a judicial nominee, denouncing “Hillary Rotten Clinton” and pledging support for the National Rifle Association.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee, on a party-line vote, approved him for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.

Talley, 36, is part of what Trump has called the “untold story” of his success in filling the courts with young conservatives.

“The judge story is an untold story. Nobody wants to talk about it,” Trump said last month, standing alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “But when you think of it, Mitch and I were saying, that has consequences 40 years out, depending on the age of the judge — but 40 years out.”

Civil rights groups and liberal advocates see the matter differently. They denounced Thursday’s vote, calling it “laughable” that none of the committee Republicans objected to confirming a lawyer with as little experience as Talley to preside over federal trials.

“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,” said Kristine Lucius, executive vice president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

When Trump took office in January, there were more than 100 vacant seats on the federal courts, thanks to an unprecedented slowdown engineered by McConnell during the final two years of President Barack Obama’s term. The Senate under GOP control approved only 22 judges in that two-year period, the lowest total since 1951-52 in the last year of President Truman’s term. By contrast, the Senate under Democratic control approved 68 judges in the last two years of George W. Bush’s presidency.

Talley’s nomination now moves to the Senate floor where a similar party-line result is expected.

David G. Savage is a Tribune Co. writer.