Newly appointed acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker put forth religious requirements for federal judges while running as a Republican for the United States Senate, the Des Moines Registerreported in 2014.


During an Iowa Family Leader debate moderated by Erick Erickson, Whitaker gave his views on the federal judiciary.

"If they have a secular world view, then I'm going to be very concerned about how they judge," he explained.

"Natural law often times is used from the eye of the beholder and what I would like to see — I'd like to see things like their world view, what informs them. Are they people of faith? Do they have a biblical view of justice? — which I think is very important because we all know that our government ..."

Erickson, the moderator, interrupted his answer with, "Levitical or New Testament?"

"I'm a New Testament," Whitaker replied. "And what I know is as long as they have that world view, that they'll be a good judge. And if they have a secular world view, where this is all we have here on Earth, then I'm going to be very concerned about that judge."