Trump federal judge nominee spent his nights hunting ghosts

Brett J. Talley

Trump really does know all the best people:

Brett J. Talley, nominated by President Donald Trump to the Federal District Court in Montgomery, Alabama, has never tried a case, is married to a White House lawyer, and has been dubbed as unqualified by the American Bar Association.

He also has a fervent interest in investigating and writing about paranormal activities.

On his questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee, a copy of which was provided to The Daily Beast, Talley says that he was part of The Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group from 2009-2010. The group, according to its website, searches for the truth “of the paranormal existence” in addition to helping “those who may be living with paranormal activity that can be disruptive and/or traumatic.”

David Higdon, the group’s founder and later a co-author with Talley told The Daily Beast that he couldn’t remember specific cases they may have worked on together.

“Mainly we may go into a house between maybe 7 at night and 6 in the morning and stay up all night long and see if we can see what’s going on,” Higdon told The Daily Beast in a phone interview, when asked about the paranormal group’s work generally.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with having an interest in the supernatural; it can be cool to think about, and there’s plenty about the natural world that science hasn’t nailed down yet. But maybe, just maybe, a real-life ghostbuster who spent his nights hunting down “paranormal activity” – in addition to the general ineptitude and conflict of interest on record – isn’t grade-A federal judge material.

Not that anything as silly as qualifications has ever stopped Trump before.

(via @samstein; RT: @radleybalko)