American Bar Association

The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important non-controversial activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model legal codes, of which the most important is a code of ethical standards for lawyers (see Watergate scandal for more information). The Model Code of Professional Responsibility (1969) and/or the newer Model Rules of Professional Conduct (1983) have been adopted in 49 state jurisdictions and the District of Columbia. The only exception is California, which has refused to adopt either (see State Bar of California), although a few sections of the California Rules of Professional Responsibility were clearly influenced by the ABA models.

Rating of judicial nominees

For decades, the ABA participated in the judicial nomination process by vetting nominees and giving them a rating ranging from "not qualified" to "well qualified." The process was accused by many, including the Federalist Society, of having a liberal bias. For example, the ABA gave Ronald Reagan's judicial nominees Richard Posner and Frank H. Easterbrook low "qualified/not qualified" ratings;http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/001367.php later, the ABA gave Bill Clinton judicial nominees with similar resumes "well qualified" ratings.http://web.archive.org/web/20010710135604/http://www.fed-soc.org/abaw8969.htm Meanwhile, Judges Posner and Easterbrook have gone on to become the two most highly-cited judges in the federal appellate judiciary.http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/documents/gulati_000.pdf In 2001, the George W. Bush administration announced that it would cease cooperating with the ABA in advance of judicial nominations. The ABA continues to rate nominees. In 2005, the ABA gave John Roberts, George W. Bush's nomination for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a unanimous "well qualified" rating; it also gave a unanimous "well qualified" rating to appellate court nominee Miguel Estrada, who never took his seat because his nomination was filibustered, but only a "qualified/not-qualified" rating to nominee Janice Rogers Brown.http://www.abanet.org/scfedjud/ratings108.pdf

Related Topics:
Liberal - Ronald Reagan - Richard Posner - Frank H. Easterbrook - Bill Clinton - George W. Bush - John Roberts - Miguel Estrada - Filibuster - Janice Rogers Brown

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