Senators on Wednesday grilled nominees for federal district judgeships in Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia and Tennessee. Elizabeth Branch, a Georgia appellate judge up for an Eleventh Circuit seat, breezed through her hearing.

Northern District of Texas nominee Matthew Kacsmaryk is deputy general counsel for the First Liberty Institute, an organization focused on defending religious liberty. Kacsmaryk was rated “qualified” by the American Bar Association's standing committee on the federal judiciary, whose ratings are “not qualified,” “qualified” and “well-qualified.”

He was quizzed on views he has expressed in briefs and other writings, including a statement that the march toward marriage equality was “lawlessness.” Soon-to-resign Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, said the comment “very much bothers me.”