Eight of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees were cleared by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, bringing the total number of judges waiting to be confirmed up to 49, the Washington Times reports.
The committee voted to approve seven nominees for district court and one for circuit court, Jonathan Kobes, who won the support of every Republican on the panel but no Democrats, who cited the American Bar Association’s rating that he wasn’t experienced enough to be a judge.
Republicans claimed the ABA evaluator was biased because of her history of “liberal activism,” according to the chairman, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
“This particular evaluator has a long history of liberal activism. So it’s no surprise that the ABA’s two ‘not qualified’ recommendations for circuit-court nominees came for nominees she evaluated,” Grassley said.
“The ABA had trouble finding enough in his record to make a thorough evaluation,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the panel. “This should really be concerning to all of us.”
Two of the district court judges were first nominated by former President Barack Obama.
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