Trump pick for judgeship narrowly confirmed

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday narrowly confirmed one of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees despite a rare “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association.

On a party-line vote of 50-48, the Republican-led Senate backed Leonard Steven Grasz to serve on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Grasz served for more than 11 years as Nebraska’s chief deputy attorney general and was general counsel to the Nebraska Republican Party.

In one opinion he helped craft, he said the legacy of the landmark 1973 abortionrights ruling Roe v. Wade was its “moral bankruptcy.” Another opinion he helped write warned of the “grave danger” of the Nebraska Supreme Court recognizing same-sex marriages from other states, and he advised that legislation refusing to recognize same-sex marriages could be defended against a constitutional challenge.

Republicans have dismissed the ABA as a partisan interest group and described its rating as a “hit job.”

Since Grasz’s evaluation, Brett Talley also has been unanimously rated by the ABA as “not qualified.” Talley has been nominated to serve as a district judge in Alabama but has never tried a case in court.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told CNN on Tuesday the White House “should not proceed” on the Talley nomination after reports emerged that in 2011 he had defended “the first KKK” on an online message board and had failed to disclose to the Judiciary Committee that his wife is the chief of staff to White House counsel Don McGahn.

Grassley, R-Iowa, said he advised the Trump administration also to reconsider Jeff Mateer’s nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Mateer has come under fire for comments he made in 2015 defending discrimination and for saying that same-sex marriage would lead to polygamy and that transgender children were part of “Satan’s plan,” as first reported by CNN.