About that Judiciary Committte Hearing

Matthew Spencer Petersen, an FEC commissioner and a nominee to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, had a rough time at his confirmation hearing Wednesday when he was unable to answer probing legal questions requiring nuanced analysis (asked by Republican Sen. John Kennedy). These included "Do you know what a motion in limine is," "Do you know what the Younger abstention doctrine is," and "How about the Pullman abstention doctrine."* Kennedy also asked Petersen if he had "read" the FRCP and FRE.

[*] I am proud to say that I teach each of those things in my courses. My new pitch to upper-level students during course-selection time will be "If you want to be a federal judge, take my courses."

A couple of thoughts about the entire thing:

1) Kennedy began by asking the full panel of Petersen and four other nominees whether any had tried cases to verdict or taken depositions. The "never tried a case" thing has been a recurring theme with several of Trump's district-court nominees, but I am not a fan. There is benefit to having judges from various backgrounds on all courts, including legislative-branch and non-judicial executive-branch experience (which would not allow a nominee to have tried or litigated a case). That a district-court judge has never litigated a case (not "tried," since most cases do not go to trial) should not be disqualifying.

2) Petersen sort-of tried the latter move by describing his role in supervising the FEC attorneys who litigate on behalf of the FEC and who thus deal with the FRE and FRCP and motions before judges--"no, I have not argued the motion, but I have overseen the lawyers who do and I am familiar with this work." But that set him up for the questions revealing he did not know anything about what these lawyers do.

3) The problem is that Petersen apparently had never heard of basic legal concepts. It was not that he could not ask answer questions about their appropriate scope or how they should apply. He could not give basic definitions or describe the basic ideas behind these doctrines. The real revelation here was less Petersen's unfitness (although he is unfit), but his arrogance. He was so certain he will be confirmed and that this was a dog-and-pony formality that he did not take two hours to look up the basic definition of legal issues or become less-than-minimally conversant about basic procedural issues that he hopes to spend the next forty years dealing with. He believed he could walk in, sit through the couple hours before the committee members, and be home free to a lifetime appointment. And that may be more disqualifying that not knowing basic legal principles. Watching Petersen, he did not appear embarrassed or bothered or ashamed by the spectacle.

4) No one "reads" the FRCP or the FRE, so the question itself was bad. Were Petersen smarter, he might have responded "I have not read them like a book, because that is now how one deals with a code. But I am happy to answer questions about specific rules or overarching ideas contained within the FRCP." That might have stopped Kennedy in his tracks (see below). But Petersen could not have answered those next-level questions, so this option was not open to him.

5) [Added thought]: The questions Kennedy asked were effective in making Petersen look stupid. But the questions could not have shown much about Petersen's qualifications, regardless of his answers. He would not have shown himself fit by saying "A motion in limine (Latin: "at the start", literally, "on the threshold") (Latin pronunciation: [ɪn ˈliːmɪˌne] in LEE-min-ay) is a motion, discussed outside the presence of the jury, to request that certain testimony be excluded" or "Younger abstention, named for Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971), is less permissive to the federal courts, barring them from hearing civil rights tort claims brought by a person who is currently being prosecuted for a matter arising from that claim in state court" (those are cut from the first sentences of the Wikipedia definitions). Yet he did not do that basic work (see # 3).

6) Am I alone in doubting that Sen. Kennedy knows what Younger or Pullman is? Or, at least, that he would be unable to have asked more than "have you heard of it" questions?

7) Petersen will be confirmed. Kennedy will vote in favor, both in committee and on the floor. So I will not even be able to use this as a sales pitch, because the students can always say "well, Matthew Petersen is on the D.D.C. and he doesn't know Younger, so why should I."

8) Here is the video, if you have not seen it. Regardless of outcome, it is worth watching