The American Bar Association Broke Its Own Rules

For decades, the American Bar Association has played a unique role in vetting federal judges. Starting with President Dwight Eisenhower, administrations would give the lawyers’ group a heads-up about whom they intended to nominate to the federal bench. A committee would then assess the candidate’s qualifications. In theory, at least, if the organization rated the nominee as “not qualified,” the administration would reconsider the appointment.

Conservatives have long alleged that the ABA’s process was biased against conservative nominees. And some do back this claim up, though the ABA vigorously defends its independence. Unsurprisingly, over the past two decades, the ABA has whipsawed in and out of the White House. In , President George W. Bush opted out of the process, and stopped giving the ABA “such a preferential, quasi-official role.” In , President Barack Obama welcomed the ABA back into the fold. And, like clockwork, in , President Donald Trump fired the ABA. Since then, the group has reviewed Trump’s nominees after they were announced, in its own capacity but not as part of the formal process, and found most of them qualified. Last week, however, there was one