Katie Lane, the first of Trump’s judicial nominees to earn the abysmal ABA rating in his second term, now has a lifetime seat on a Montana d
Senate Confirms Trump Court Pick Rated ‘Not Qualified’ To Be A Federal Judge
WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to confirm Katie Lane to a lifetime federal judgeship in Montana, despite Lane earning a rare and embarrassing “not qualified” rating by the American Bar Association — the first of President Donald Trump’s court picks to be confirmed with this rating in his second term.
Lane was confirmed 52 to 46, along party lines. The 34-year-old lawyer, who most recently served as senior legal counsel at the Republican National Committee, will now serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.
The ABA for decades has rated the professional qualifications of hundreds of federal judicial nominees for presidents in both parties. Prior to Trump’s presidency, it was very unusual for the nonpartisan legal organization to evaluate someone as “not qualified” for the job. None of President Barack Obama’s or Joe Biden’s judicial nominees got this rating, nor did President George H.W. Bush’s or Ronald Reagan’s picks.
Ten of Trump’s 234 judicial nominees in his first term were rated “not qualified,” but Republicans went on to confirm eight of them anyway.
Lane, who previously served as deputy solicitor general under Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and as an associate at Consovoy McCarthy PLLC in Virginia, earned the abysmal rating due entirely to her lack of experience: She has only practiced law for about nine years, well below the ABA’s 12-year minimum standard. She has less than eight years of experience in trial courts and less than seven years as a litigator. She has never tried a case as lead counsel, whether civil or criminal.
