That’s the title of my new Confirmation Tales post. Here’s how it opens:
If you’ve ever wondered why conservatives long ago lost trust in the American Bar Association’s capacity to be an impartial evaluator of judicial nominees, take a look at what the ABA did to Michael B. Wallace, whom George W. Bush nominated to a Fifth Circuit seat in 2006.
As I documented in detail years ago, the ABA committee’s “Not Qualified” rating of Wallace resulted from a process that was marked by deep flaws: pervasive bias, a glaring conflict of interest, feeble reasoning, a stacked committee, violation of its own procedures, and cheap gamesmanship. Those internal defects were compounded at Wallace’s September 2006 hearing by the incredible testimony given under oath—flat-out perjury, in my judgment—by the chair of the ABA committee.
I’m not going to be exhaustive here, but let’s review some of the lowlights.
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