The Justice Department officially informed the American Bar Association on Thursday that it will no longer adhere to its ratings process for judicial nominees. It says that the system is unfair and “invariably and demonstrably” favors nominees put forward by Democratic administrations.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s letter informing ABA President William R. Bay of the move comes as Republicans have been in a long-running legal battle with the country’s largest association of lawyers, and this is the latest round of bad news.
“For several decades, the American Bar Association has received special treatment and enjoyed special access to judicial nominees,” Bondi said in the letter. “In some administrations, the ABA received notice of nominees before a nomination was announced to the public. Some administrations would even decide whether to nominate an individual based on a rating assigned by the ABA.”
The Department of Justice said in the letter that it will no longer grant the ABA the “special treatment” and first access it has received, revoking decades of precedent where the ABA interviewed and vetted potential members of the incoming DOJ team.
“Accordingly, while the ABA is free to comment on judicial nominations along with other activist organizations, there is no justification for treating the ABA differently from such other activist organizations and the Department of Justice will not do so.”
“Nominees will also not respond to questionnaires prepared by the ABA and will not sit for interviews with the ABA,” Bondi said.
Democrats immediately launched a barrage of smears and insults at Bondi and the DOJ.
In a statement released Friday, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, strongly opposed the action.
He said that denying the Bar Association access to nominees goes against a long-standing tradition that has been followed by both Republican and Democratic presidents.
“This is a seismic change in the judicial nominations process — and an unjustified and blatantly political move by the Trump Administration,” said Durbin.