Civil rights group urges Senate to reject Alabama district court nominee

A coalition of left-leaning civil rights organizations is sounding the alarm on Brett Talley, President Trump’s pick to be a judge on the federal district court for the middle district of Alabama.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Hum­­­­an Rights called the Justice Department lawyer “wholly unqualified” for the lifetime seat given his lack of litigation experience and views on gun rights.

The group claims Talley has practiced law for less than three years since graduating from college a decade ago and has never had a trial or even argued a motion in court.

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“He has spent most of his time working either as a judicial law clerk (three years) or as a political appointee (four years) in policy and communications roles,” the group wrote in an open letter to senators on Wednesday.

“The notion that Mr. Talley is prepared to be a federal trial judge — having practiced law for less than three years and never having had a trial or even argued a motion in court — is a sad commentary on the value that the Trump administration places on maintaining a credible and respected federal judiciary,” it added.

Talley is the fourth judicial nominee from the Trump administration to receive the rare “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association.

The Leadership Conference also noted blog posts demonstrating Talley’s past views on guns.

In 2013, he pledged his support for the National Rifle Association weeks after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., and asserted that the right to bear arms is the “ultimate right.”

“These offensive and extremely partisan comments are the opposite of the kind of temperament we need in an independent jurist,” the Leadership Conference wrote to senators.

“And in light of the tragic mass shooting in a Texas church last Sunday, the consideration this week of Mr. Talley — in light of his diatribes against the majority of Americans who favor common sense gun safety — is particularly stunning.”