In a troubling moment for President Joe Biden’s efforts to fill the courts with qualified, fair-minded judges, one of his nominees appeared completely stumped by basic legal terms during a Senate confirmation hearing.
Georgia native Justin Walker, who was tapped by the White House to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier this year, stumbled multiple times throughout the hearing, struggling to answer basic questions about the court system from both Republican and Democratic senators.
At one point, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) asked Walker if he was “familiar with the concept of stare decisis”—Latin for “to stand by things decided”—a judicial doctrine that requires judges to adhere to precedent set by earlier court rulings. Walker replied, “I’m not sure, senator.”
The exchange was just the latest in a series of stumbles for the nominee. Earlier in the day, he had seemed unfamiliar with “writs of mandamus” and “writs of prohibition,” two commonly used legal safeguards designed to ensure that governmental officials comply with the law.
Walker’s performance is sure to raise further questions about the Biden administration’s vetting process for judicial candidates. So far, the president has made good on his promise to nominate judges who will bring “diversity in background and opinion” to the court system, but Walker’s apparent unpreparedness for the hearing suggests that his appointment may have been rushed.
