Unqualified Nominees Farr, Kobes Advance in Lame Duck

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 15, 2018 – Following Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to file cloture on two of President Trump’s most unqualified and unsuitable judicial nominees, Jonathan Kobes in the Eighth Circuit and Thomas Farr in the Eastern District of North Carolina, AFJ President Nan Aron released the following statement:

“The Senate Republican leadership is attempting to ram through two of President Trump’s most troubling judicial nominations during the lame-duck session, when they think few Americans are watching. Thomas Farr was implicated in a racist voter suppression and intimidation scheme carried out by the Jesse Helms Senate campaign. Jonathan Kobes has virtually no courtroom experience or legal scholarship that would qualify him for a high-level judgeship, and is a purely partisan political choice. These are among the most flawed nominations Trump has made, and it’s telling that they are being advanced now. Senators should refuse to go along with this ploy and should not confirm two people who are so undeserving of lifetime seats on the federal bench.”