<p>President Donald Trump's nominee for federal judge in Alabama was just approved by every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee &#8212; even though he was unanimously rated "not qualified" by the American Bar Association.</p> 
<p>Brett J. Talley is 36 years old, has only practiced law for three years and made a series of partisan comments on his blog in 2016 that would normally be considered unbecoming of a judge, like referring to the Democratic presidential candidate as "Hillary Rotten Clinton," <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-judge-20171110-story.html" type="external">according to the Los Angeles Times</a>. Although Talley does have degrees from the University of Alabama and Harvard Law School and clerked for two federal judges, he has never argued a motion, making it nearly unprecedented for him to be considered as a candidate for a lifetime appointment.</p> 
<p>One of Talley's most controversial statements was a blog post in which he claimed that President Barack Obama was "about to launch the greatest attack on our constitutional freedoms in our lifetime."</p> 
<p>He added, "The object of that war is to make guns illegal, in all forms." After a commenter wrote that Americans would "resort to arms when our other rights &#8212; of speech, press, assembly, representative government &#8212; fail to yield the desired results," Talley said he agreed with him.</p> 
<p>When asked about these statements by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Talley said he was merely "trying to generate discussion. I wanted people to be able to use my blog to discuss issues, to come together and find common ground."</p> 
<p>The president has directly praised Talley as being an "untold story" that "nobody wants to talk about."</p> 
<p>"When you think of it, Mitch [McConnell] and I were saying, that has consequences 40 years out, depending on the age of the judge," Trump said in October. "But 40 years out."</p> 
<p>One other factor that may have contributed to Talley's nomination: He was mentored by Sen. Luther Strange of Alabama and worked in the Justice Department office that chooses judicial nominees.</p> 
<p>Talley isn't the only Trump judicial nominee who has been the subject of <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/17/trump-judges-nominees-court-picks-243834" type="external">raised questions</a>. Charles Goodwin, who was nominated to the federal bench in Oklahoma, was the first judicial nominee since 2006 to receive a "not qualified" label from the American Bar Association. Jeff Mateer, who was nominated to the federal bench in Texas, aroused controversy by referring to transgender children as proof of "Satan&#8217;s plan" and denounced the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage as "disgusting." John Bush, who was confirmed to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote a blog post arguing that slavery and abortion were the "two greatest tragedies in our country."</p>
Republicans approve 36-year-old judicial nominee who has never tried a case