SAN FRANCISCO — With a full head of steam, J. Anthony Kline roared to the defense of Kathleen Banke on Thursday, calling the JNE Commission’s relatively low “qualified” rating for the appellate nominee “completely divorced from reality.”

Kline, an appellate judge who is part of the three-member Commission on Judicial Appointments, called Banke “an unusually qualified candidate” and her rating “a gross underevaluation.”