WASHINGTON, D.C., February 3, 2021 – New reporting confirms that the Biden administration will not submit judicial nominees to the American Bar Association for consideration before nominating them.
Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement:
“We have already been impressed by President Biden’s commitment to expanding the professional diversity of our professional judges, and this is another important step toward ensuring that outcome. While the ABA review process can be a useful tool for assessing a prospective judge, it should not serve as a gatekeeper to block qualified nominees from even being considered.
Moreover, this process has primarily disadvantaged Democratic administrations. Over the past four years, the ABA gave a pass to Trump nominees with extreme records of bias and discriminatory views while Senate Republicans conveniently ignored its simultaneous record number of ‘unqualified’ rankings. We all want to hold judicial nominees to a high standard, but that scrutiny should take place publicly during the confirmation process and fairly impact nominees from all backgrounds.”