Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) on Tuesday revealed yet another Biden judicial nominee.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, President Kennedy told U.S. District Judge Nancy Maldonado, a nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, that she supported an assault weapons ban in Cook State in 2012 on gun violence. He asked about the legal brief he signed on behalf of the Prevention Brady Center. Illinois County.
“You said, “Assault weapons are so dangerous and unsuitable for legitimate self-defense purposes that they may be banned.” Could you tell me what you mean by “assault weapons”?” asked Kennedy.
Mr. Maldonado initially tried to deflect by saying he had not actually written the brief, only signed it.
“If you signed the brief, you were testifying in court that everything in it was true, right?” Kennedy pressed.
“Yes,” Maldonado declared.
“So those are your words in court, right?” the senator followed up.
“Well, you’re right, Sen. Kennedy,” Maldonado acknowledged.
Kennedy then asked again, eliciting a confession from Maldonado.
“I’m not a gun expert,” she said.
“But you were giving advice to the court, for example, ‘ban assault weapons.’ You told the court you were an expert. Tell us what you want to ban.” Kennedy followed.
But Maldonado couldn’t answer that question. While she claims that she cannot recall the “definition” of an assault weapon under the statute that is the subject of her lawsuit, she claims that the brief containing her signature was not actually written by her. She fended off her criticism by insisting.
At the beginning of the hearing, Kennedy berated Maldonado for what he perceived as alarming counterproductiveness.
Maldonado currently has 125 motions pending, the most of any district judge in the Seventh Circuit and the seventh most of any district judge in the nation, Kennedy said.
“You’re really thinking about all the other district judges in the 7th Circuit. Are you the one getting promoted?” Kennedy confronted.
But Maldonado offered only excuses such as the COVID-19 pandemic, heavy workload and backlog of cases.
“I stand by my record,” she said.
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