WASHINGTON — The American Bar Association has issued a "qualified" rating to Jeff Mateer, the nominee for a lifetime federal judgeship in Texas who has described transgender children as part of "Satan's plan."

That's the ABA's second-highest rating. At least two and as many as five lawyers on the ABA's 15-member screening committee voted to declare him "unqualified."

President Donald Trump nominated Mateer on Sept. 7 for a vacancy in Sherman, in the Eastern District of Texas. Two weeks later, CNN uncovered his 2015 remarks on transgender children, and other remarks that year bemoaning state-level bans on conversion therapy — controversial treatment intended to turn gay people straight. The Pan American Health Organization has deemed such therapy "a serious threat to the health" of those treated.

Mateer, now the deputy to state Attorney General Ken Paxton, made the comments as general counsel for First Liberty Institute, a conservative Plano-based law firm focused on promoting religious liberty.

Gay rights advocates have denounced the nomination, and Democratic senators have vowed tough questioning if Mateer gets a confirmation hearing, saying he has shown he would not be impartial on important issues.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz have stood by the nominee, though Cornyn has emphasized that he didn't know about the remarks before recommending him to the White House.

Legal scholars have called it highly unusual to pick a judge who has made such inflammatory remarks.

In one of his speeches, Mateer discussed a Colorado lawsuit in which a transgender girl's parents sued after the school district said she could no longer use the girls' bathroom because that did not match the sex on her birth certificate.

"Now, I submit to you, a parent of three children who are now young adults, a first-grader really knows what their sexual identity [is]? I mean it just really shows you how Satan's plan is working and the destruction that's going on," Mateer said in the speech.

He has also warned that same-sex marriage would lead to polygamy and bestiality. And Mateer once speculated that there is a "concentrated effort" in Texas of people trying to bring forward lawsuits against schools, business and churches for denying the rights of gay people.

"Almost like maybe they're setups," he said. "It just seems like there's more and more, unless every homosexual in the country is moving to North Texas, which maybe is a possibility. I don't know."

The Senate Judiciary Committee has not scheduled a confirmation hearing for Mateer, and he has not submitted a mandatory questionnaire detailing work experience and public statements.

Cornyn and Cruz use a Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee to screen applicants for the federal bench. According to Cornyn and committee members, Mateer did not disclose the controversial statements.

Asked two weeks ago about Mateer's status, Cornyn said he had not "heard anything more than the last time" he addressed the comments. "I have not heard from the administration about that," he added.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

Mateer's statements haven't shaken Cruz's support.

"His record as a lawyer and public servant demonstrates a fidelity to law and a commitment to protecting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights," Cruz said Sept. 28.

The bar doesn't release precise votes or explanations for the ratings, and the majority vote to declare him qualified is the official rating for Mateer.

The ABA's nonpartisan committee rates every federal judicial nominee and provides the results to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the White House. The panel interviews each nominee and conducts a confidential review. It does not take into consideration the candidate's philosophy or political ideology.

Vice News reported other statements Mateer made admitting he discriminates based on sexual orientation.

"Guess what? I attend a conservative Baptist church. We discriminate, all right. On the basis of sexual orientation, we discriminate," he said in a 2015 National Religious Liberties Conference. "Does that mean I can't be a judge? In some states, I think that's true, unfortunately."

LGBT advocacy groups have blasted Mateer's nomination since the comments came to light. Thirty-six groups signed on to a letter to the Senate on Oct. 16 demanding that his nomination be withdrawn.

"Mr. Mateer's appointment to the bench would cause grave harm to the LGBT community, as well as many other communities who rely on the federal judiciary to administer fair and impartial justice," the letter read. "His record of vicious and hateful statements combined with his portfolio of extreme anti-LGBT advocacy make Mr. Mateer uniquely and demonstrably unfit for a job as a federal judge."

Federal judges need approval from the Judiciary Committee and then confirmation by the full Senate.

So far, four other Trump nominees for federal trial courts have received qualified or well qualified ratings from the ABA. Rankings for two Fifth Circuit appeals court nominees, Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett and James Ho, have not been issued.