The ABA’s historical role in vetting federal judges

On this episode: For over 75 years, the American Bar Association has played a key role in evaluating the professional qualifications of federal judicial nominees. But its involvement has long been a source of debate—particularly among Republicans, with concerns about bias dating back to the Reagan administration. In this episode, University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias explains how the ABA’s process works, why some view it as a valuable independent resource, and why others argue it should be excluded from the nomination process altogether. We also discuss the implications of recent moves to curtail the ABA’s access and what that could mean for judicial confirmations going forward.

Learn more about the ABA: https://ballotpedia.org/ABA_ratings_during_the_Trump_administration 

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*On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.