Friday, May 26, 2006
Hatch Skeptical of Wallace Rating
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) commented on the influence of the ABA rating system in confirming nominations during his passionate speech supporting the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. He stated:
"Frankly, I have always been one of those who are somewhat skeptical of the American Bar Association's ratings. After all, many Democrat's consider it their Gold Standard. Whenever the Democrat's call something their Gold Standard, I have found it useful to scratch beneath the surface because sometimes you find that it is only gold-plated and sometimes you find that it is in fact gold but that the gold came from the taxpayers hard-earned money."
He noted that at times the ratings appear to be influenced more by partisan politics than by the nominee's qualifications, citing the recent not qualified rating of Michael Wallace.
"Just recently, Michael Wallace, a nominee to the Fifth Circuit, seems to have fallen victim to an ideological review process by the ABA. He graduated from the top of his class at Harvard and went on to the University of Virginia Law School. He clerked not only for the Mississippi Supreme Court, but also for the late Chief Justice Rehnquist. Yet, he was given a unanimously not qualified rating. I am very curious about the facts surrounding this rating.
I understand that some are suggesting that past battles over particular public policy issues might have something to do with the rating. We will see."
"Frankly, I have always been one of those who are somewhat skeptical of the American Bar Association's ratings. After all, many Democrat's consider it their Gold Standard. Whenever the Democrat's call something their Gold Standard, I have found it useful to scratch beneath the surface because sometimes you find that it is only gold-plated and sometimes you find that it is in fact gold but that the gold came from the taxpayers hard-earned money."
He noted that at times the ratings appear to be influenced more by partisan politics than by the nominee's qualifications, citing the recent not qualified rating of Michael Wallace.
"Just recently, Michael Wallace, a nominee to the Fifth Circuit, seems to have fallen victim to an ideological review process by the ABA. He graduated from the top of his class at Harvard and went on to the University of Virginia Law School. He clerked not only for the Mississippi Supreme Court, but also for the late Chief Justice Rehnquist. Yet, he was given a unanimously not qualified rating. I am very curious about the facts surrounding this rating.
I understand that some are suggesting that past battles over particular public policy issues might have something to do with the rating. We will see."
# posted by Kim Loontjer @ 10:52 AM 
