Bar Association gives thumbs-down to Katie Lane’s District Court nomination

Katie Lane, the Bozeman attorney nominated to U.S. District Court by President Donald Trump, has become the first judicial nominee of Trump’s second term to be rated unqualified by the American Bar Association.

The ABA made its assessment public Wednesday when it informed Senate Judiciary Committee leaders that Lane lacks the experience necessary to run a courtroom.

U.S. District courts are mostly trial courts. If she’s confirmed, Lane would replace Judge Susan Watters, who announced in 2025 that she will assume senior status this summer.

“Ms. Lane has less than eight years of experience in the trial courts and less than seven years as a litigator,” wrote Pamela J. Roberts, chair of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. “Ms. Lane has never tried a case as lead counsel, whether civil or criminal. Her trial experience consists of serving as fourth-chair counsel in a bench trial in 2025, where she briefly cross-examined one witness. She has first-chaired only one deposition.”

The ABA review is based on the feedback of roughly 200 members of the bench and bar. A minority of the committee considered Lane qualified. The ABA letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, noted that Lane has good legal experience on her resume, but that she still lacks the minimum 12 years of practice the ABA recommends.

Lane is the first judicial nominee of Trump’s second term that the ABA considered unqualified, though several previous nominees received no ABA evaluation. Providing nonpartisan assessment of nominees is the traditional role of the ABA in the confirmation process. ABA evaluations are purely informational assessments provided to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which hasn’t yet decided whether to advance Lane’s nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. 

Following Lane’s initial hearing on March 26, Carl Tobias, an expert on judicial nominations who teaches law at the University of Richmond, in Virginia, and previously taught law at the University of Montana, told Montana Free Press the ABA is weighing in less frequently on Trump judicial nominees so as not to wear out its influence in the process after the organization disapproved of multiple judicial nominees during Trump’s first term. 

A White House spokesperson referred to ABA ratings as “useless and partisan” in response to questions by Bloomberg about ABA’s evaluation of Lane.

Montana U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, who introduced Lane at her first confirmation hearing, provided a statement to Capitolized expressing confidence that Lane will be confirmed, regardless of the ABA assessment. 

“Katie Lane is exceedingly qualified and capable,” Daines said. “She will be fair-minded, principled and bring honor and integrity to the bench.”

Daines also introduced Trump nominee Bill Mercer in mid 2025. Mercer was confirmed by the Senate last October.

Just after high school, Lane worked on Daines’ 2012 campaign for the U.S. House, was a Daines intern during his two-year House tenure, and worked on Daines’ 2014 Senate campaign. Later, Lane worked for current MTGOP Chair Art Wittich and the Montana Department of Justice under Attorney General Austin Knudsen. She also worked for the Republican National Committee. 

Tobias said Lane’s youth assures that, if confirmed, her tenure on the bench will be longstanding, and in time she would likely become chief justice of the Montana district.