President Joe Biden trial court nominee Kato Crews was stumped by questioning from Sen. John Kennedy during confirmation hearing testimony on Wednesday.
Crews, a nominee for district judge of the U.S. District Court of Colorado, was asked by Kennedy how he would “analyze a Brady motion,” with Crews answering that he had not “had the occasion to address a Brady motion” during his four and a half years on the bench.
After stumbling over the answer, Kennedy, R-La., asked Crews if he knew “what a Brady motion is.”
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Crews, who currently serves as a magistrate judge, admitted that the concept was “not coming to mind” as a result of never having addressed the issue before, prompting Kennedy to ask if Crews remembered the Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland and what the case held.
“I believe that the Brady case involved something regarding the Second Amendment,” Crews responded. “I have not had an occasion to address that.”
A Brady motion is a legal concept that came as a result of the landmark Brady v. Maryland Supreme Court decision in 1963, which held that the prosecution must hand over potentially favorable evidence to the defense.
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The exchange was the second time this year Kennedy stumped a Biden judicial nominee during confirmation hearings, coming less than two months after the Louisiana senator quizzed Spokane County Superior Court Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren on Article V of the Constitution.
“Tell me what Article V of the Constitution does,” Kennedy asked Bjelkengren at that hearing.
“Article V is not coming to mind at the moment,” Bjelkengren responded.
Kennedy then asked Bjelkengren about Article II, with the nominee again responding that the article did not come to mind.
Crews has served on the bench in his current role since 2018.