ABA: 8th Circuit Nominee is Not Qualified

From Bloomberg:

Jonathan Kobes isn’t qualified to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, according to the American Bar Association.

The ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary gave Kobes a “Not Qualified” rating, the sixth such rating for President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees.

Kobes is the second of Trump’s nominees to the Eighth Circuit to receive such a “Not Qualified” rating. The first, Steve Grasz, was confirmed by a 50-48 vote.

Four of Trump’s district court nominees have also been rated “Not Qualified.” Two of them have been confirmed, one was withdrawn, and one is pending.

None of President Barack Obama’s nominees received a “Not Qualified” rating, but his administration worked with the ABA to pre-screen candidates before announcing their nominations. The Trump Administration opted out of this pre-screen process, as did President George W. Bush’s administration, which also saw some nominees rated “Not Qualified.”

Kobes, who is currently general counsel to Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), came under scrutiny at his confirmation hearing for comments about immigration, which were attributed to him by a Dutch newspaper.

The paper quoted Kobes as saying that Republicans oppose immigration because it waters down the culture.

Kobes testified that he believed such a perspective on immigration was unfair, and that it didn’t reflect his personal position.

You can read more here.

(ljs)