![handle is hein.crs/goveflk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional
*.Research Service
informing the legisIafive debate since 114_
Evaluation Process and Ratings of Supreme
Court Nominees by the American Bar
Association
March 22, 2022
This Insight provides information related to the evaluation and rating of a Supreme Court nominee by the
American Bar Association (ABA). Once a President nominates, or announces an intention to nominate, an
individual to a vacancy on the Court, the nominee is evaluated by the American Bar Association's
Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.
The committee states that each evaluation focuses solely on a nominee's professional qualifications and
does not take into consideration a nominee's philosophy, political affiliation or ideology. A nominee's
professional qualifications include his or her integrity, professional competence, and judicial
temperament. According to the committee, it conducts the most extensive nationwide peer review
possible [of the nominee] on the premise that the highest court in the land requires a lawyer or judge with
exceptional professional qualifications. Consequently, the evaluation process typically involves
conducting hundreds of interviews with those persons most likely to have information regarding the
professional qualifications of the nominee. It also involves an examination of the nominee's legal
writings by law school professors (often recognized experts in areas of law related to the nominee's
writings) and practicing lawyers with experience arguing before the Court.
In reporting the result of its evaluation, the ABA committee rates a nominee as Well Qualified,
Qualified, or Not Qualified. The committee's rating can be unanimous (appearing as a single rating)
or, if not unanimous, the rating by the majority or substantial majority of the committee is listed first,
followed by the rating or ratings given by a minority of the committee. Occasionally, under certain
circumstances, a committee member is recused or otherwise abstains from participating in a vote on the
rating for a nominee.
A nominee's rating is submitted in writing to the Senate Judiciary Committee, White House, and U.S.
Department of Justice. Typically, the Senate Judiciary Committee has also invited the ABA committee to
testify, as the first public witness, about its evaluation and rating of the nominee at his or her confirmation
hearing.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
IN11896
CRS INSIGHT
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveflk0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most