The American Bar Association (ABA) on Friday announced that they unanimously awarded President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, their highest possible rating — “well qualified.”
The ABA’s 15-member standing committee on the Federal Judiciary has been evaluating federal judicial nominees since 1953.
“The rating of ‘Well Qualified’ is reserved for those found to merit the Committee’s strongest affirmative endorsement,” the ABA states in its description of the ranking process.
Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) is under continuously building pressure to confirm Kavanaugh, and the support for the nominee by the ABA – which is widely considered to be a nonpartisan voice of reason when it comes to confirmation processes – seemingly rebuts any apolitical reason Jones could give for not supporting Trump’s pick.
To earn this highest rating, “a Supreme Court nominee must be a preeminent member of the legal profession, have outstanding legal ability and exceptional breadth of experience, and meet the very highest standards of integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament,” according to the ABA.
UNANIMOUS ?well-qualified @SenDougJones #ConfirmKavanaugh #alpolitics https://t.co/jT8SExyzkO
— Terry Lathan (@ChairmanLathan) August 31, 2018
However, former Alabama congressman and Democratic nominee for governor Parker Griffith believes that Jones made up his mind some time ago to oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation – purely for political reasons.
“[H]e knows he’s going to vote against him,” Griffith explained to Yellowhammer News’ Dale Jackson.
Griffith continued, “If he votes yes, he loses his base.”
In the past week, RNC spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said that Jones is “too beholden to the radicals” in the Democratic Party, and Americans for Prosperity ran digital ads in Alabama saying Jones is “putting politics ahead of his country” and “siding with Chuck Schumer, not Alabamans.”
Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, which is expected to be a grueling four-day spectacle, begins Tuesday at 8:30 am CST in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. You can watch online here.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
