Senate Confirms Trump Judge Pick Rated Unqualified by ABA

The Senate confirmed the first judicial nominee to receive an “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association in President Donald Trump’s second term.

Katie Lane was confirmed to the US District Court for the District of Montana on Tuesday, 52-46. The tally was along party lines in the Republican-controlled chamber.

The Republican National Committee lawyer and former Montana deputy solicitor general was rated unqualified by the ABA due to her limited legal experience. Though Lane is the first nominee to receive that rating in Trump’s second term, the ABA rated 10 nominees in his first term as unqualified. Most were confirmed.

The ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary said in an April 7 letter that Lane fell short of the 12 years of experience as an attorney standard for a federal trial court judgeship, and had insufficient courtroom and trial experience to compensate. She graduated from George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School in 2017.

Republicans, who have long chafed at ABA ratings, pushed back on the notion that Lane lacked sufficient experience to serve as a judge.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said in floor remarks before the vote that her “distinguished record of public service” and experience in the state and federal judiciary “makes her well-qualified to serve on the federal bench.”

Lane has held federal clerkships on the Eastern District of Tennessee and for Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich of the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit—credentials in line with those typical of judicial nominees.

Democrats have opposed her nomination. “Not only has her legal career been extremely brief, but it has also been extremely partisan,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said in floor remarks on Monday.

Lane will replace Judge Susan P. Watters, who will take senior status beginning June 8. Watters has served on the court since 2013, when she was nominated by Barack Obama.