Home > Life

Everybody is cringing at a judicial nominee's inability to answer basic legal questions

Republican Senator John Kennedy's questions for one of Trump's district judge nominees revealed that the nominee didn't know the first thing about trial law and running a courtroom.

Rachel Kraus

on December 15, 2017

On Wednesday, the Senate judiciary committee questioned Trump's district judge nominees. Things got awkward real quick.

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) initiated a line of questioning that revealed that one nominee, Matthew S. Peterson, doesn't know the first thing about the workings, laws, and procedures necessary for running a courtroom.

The world got a front seat to the interrogation when Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) tweeted the awkward exchange. He summed it all up with one painfully accurate phrase: Hoo-boy.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Kennedy kicked off his questioning by asking "Have any of you not tried a case to verdict in a courtroom?" To which Peterson raised his hand. That's because Peterson is a member of the Federal Election Commission, a Republican, and a lawyer with no trial experience.

Peterson went on to answer no to almost all of Kennedy's seemingly targeted questions about the nominee's knowledge of and experience with courtroom law and procedure (which was slim to none).

"As a trial judge, you’re obviously going to have witnesses. Can you tell me what the Daubert standard is?" Kennedy asked at one point.

Mashable Trend Report

Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means.

By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Thanks for signing up!

The answer was no.

Peterson attempted to defend himself, explaining "the path that many successful district court judges have taken has been a different one than I have taken," and going on to talk about his experience at the FEC. But Kennedy wasn't having it, and cut him off by saying, "Yes, I’ve read your resume. Just for the record, do you know what a motion in limine is?"

*cringe*

This latest exchange provided fodder for even more criticisms that Trump's judicial nominees are unqualified. And while many people on social media lambasted Peterson (and Trump) for the nominee's lack of experience, many couldn't help but have a human reaction to watching the total humiliation of a human being in public.

Guess 2017 hasn't left us entirely soul-less?

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Still, the cringiness of it all didn't distract many from the fact that Trump is not only nominating wildly unqualified attorneys to the federal bench, he's also reshaping it entirely with a cabal of pro-business conservatives.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Chrissy Teigen, queen of the cringe face, pretty much summed it up:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

She gets it.

Topics Politics

Rachel Kraus

Rachel Kraus is a Mashable Tech Reporter specializing in health and wellness. She is an LA native, NYU j-school graduate, and writes cultural commentary across the internetz.