Watch: Matthew Spencer Petersen, Trump U.S. District Court Nominee, Is Now the Internet’s Most Owned Man
Screencap via Twitter Politics Features The Law
It will likely not shock you to know that when nominating judges for the U.S. District Court, the Trump administration managed to find a busload of incompetent partisans. That’s to be expected. What might surprise you, though, is the alarming extent to which at least one of them is ignorant of the most basic principles of law. And what really floored me was that the man exposing him as a fraud was a Republican senator—John Kennedy of Louisiana. Watch this video, and cringe in horror as Matthew Spencer Petersen (who really, really doesn’t belong up there) becomes the most owned man on the Internet:
MUST WATCH: Republican @SenJohnKennedy asks one of @realDonaldTrump’s US District Judge nominees basic questions of law & he can’t answer a single one. Hoo-boy. pic.twitter.com/fphQx2o1rc
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) December 15, 2017
This is Veep-level stuff right there. The pure squirming is just so painful to watch, as is the fact that Spencer is one of those people who thinks he can hide his incompetence by nervously spewing out lots of words. If you’ve ever seen a student who failed to do the reading get grilled by his teacher, and respond by stammering until he digs his hole even deeper, this will look familiar. The fact that it’s on a national stage, at the highest levels of the judicial branch…well, that’s horrifying.
To summarize how this went, here’s a short synopsis by dialogue, Kennedy in bold:
Have you ever tried a case to verdict in a court room?
No.
A jury trial?
No.
Civil?
No.
Criminal?
No.
Bench?
No.
State or federal court?
No.
Taken a deposition?
(long, muddled answer)
Seriously, how many?
About five, a long time ago?
Any by yourself?
No.
Argued a motion in state court?
No.
Federal court?
No.
Have you read the Federal rules of civil procedure?
(long, muddled answer)
Seriously, when?
Um, law school?
What’s the Daubert standard?
Um….
Motion in limine?
Yes.
You do?
My path has been so unique.
Great. What’s a motion in limine?
No clue.
Younger abstention doctrine?
Definitely heard of that one.
Pullman abstention doctrine?
Guhhhhh…
Really great to meet you.