Judge nominees out

Two Trump judge nominees out after criticism

Brett Talley had not tried a court case, while Jeff Mateer called transgender children part of ‘Satan’s plan.’

By JOSH GERSTEIN and SEUNG MIN KIM

The White House is giving up on two of President Donald Trump's nominees for the federal bench.

The president will not pursue the nominations of Brett Talley to a district court slot in Alabama and Jeff Mateer to a district court post in Texas, a White House official confirmed to POLITICO Wednesday.

Talley indicated he was prepared to withdraw from consideration after coming under criticism for a lack of experience and for failing to disclose that his wife works in the White House counsel's office.

"He has offered to withdraw his nomination thus it will not be moving forward," said a White House official who asked not to be named.

The official added that the nomination of Mateer, who ran into trouble over extreme statements about transgender children, "will not be moving forward."

Talley's nomination was endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote last month, while Mateer had yet to be scheduled for a hearing.

“I think the quality of judicial appointments is important,” California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday. “I think experience is important. I think having tried a case is important. I think being able to separate yourself from your political thinking is important. I think respect for the Constitution is important. I think not being an extremist is important. So I’ll leave you with that.”

The White House's decision came after panel chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley said this week that he'd urged the White House to drop Talley's bid and to reconsider Mateer's nomination.

Asked Wednesday about the status of the two nominees, Grassley spokesman Taylor Foy said: "He doesn’t anticipate that either will be confirmed." Mateer has yet to submit a questionnaire necessary for his nomination to move forward, the spokesman added.

Talley, 36, received a unanimous "not qualified" rating from the American Bar Association, due in large part to his lack of courtroom experience. It later emerged that his wife, Ann Donaldson, is chief of staff to White House counsel Don McGahn. The relationship was not disclosed on a questionnaire Talley completed, though some Republicans said the connection was no secret.

However, in recent weeks, several Republican senators appeared to sour on Talley's nomination. Late last month, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said he would vote against Talley "in a heartbeat."

“I had no idea his connection,” Kennedy said of Talley’s marriage to a White House staffer. “And he’s never tried a lawsuit in his natural life. And he’s gonna be on the federal bench? Give me a break. A break. It is embarrassing. And I think the president of the United States is getting some very, very bad advice.”

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) also called on Talley to step aside.

Talley graduated from Harvard Law School in 2007. He spent four years in judicial clerkships before working as a speechwriter on Mitt Romney's 2012 Republican presidential bid. He later worked in Alabama's attorney general's office before taking a Justice Department post vetting judicial nominees for the Trump administration.

Mateer ran into trouble over comments describing transgender youth as part of "Satan's plan" and labeling as "disgusting" the 2015 Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. He also suggested the decision could spur polygamy or bestiality.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said his primary concern was that Mateer didn’t disclose the contents of those speeches before he and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recommended that he be nominated.

“That’s a big problem,” Cornyn told POLITICO last month. “That may not be the only problem, but that’s a big problem.”

The White House may wind up dropping both men's nominations without formally withdrawing them. Unapproved nominations are typically returned to the president at the end of each session of Congress. Trump could simply wait for that and not resubmit the nominations next year.