Chair of the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary Randall D. Noel wrote in September that Mizelle, who graduated law school in 2012, represented a “rather marked departure” from the committee’s standard Backgrounder criteria, which provides that “a nominee to the federal bench ordinarily should have at least 12 years’ experience in the practice of law.”
The committee did concede that lacking such experience could be offset by “the breadth and depth” of a nominee’s legal experience, such as “substantial trial or courtroom experience and/or compensating accomplishments in the field of law.” But the committee said Mizelle had “not tried a case, civil or criminal, as lead or co-counsel.”
“In view of the importance of substantial courtroom and trial experience as it relates to professional competence to serve as a lifetime Article III judge, the Standing Committee accordingly has concluded – after a thorough peer review evaluation and careful deliberation – that the nominee presently does not meet the requisite minimum standard of experience necessary to perform the responsibilities required by the high office of a federal trial judge,” the letter stated.
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