The American Bar Association endorsed Brett Kavanaugh for his position on the Supreme Court. Paul T. Moxley of the ABA’s Standing Committee of the Judiciary testified on behalf of Brett Kavanaugh saying:
To merit the Committee’s rating of “Well Qualified,” 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. The rating of “Well Qualified” is reserved for those found to merit the Committee’s strongest affirmative endorsement. [emphasis added]
In other words, Moxley was lying in denying that the Standing Committee was issuing an endorsement. But that is simply prelude to the avalanche of manure that Moxley and John R. Tarpley of the Committee delivered in their statements and in testimony. Continuing with Moxley:
The Standing Committee found that Judge Kavanaugh enjoys an excellent reputation for integrity and is a person of outstanding character.
…
Many of the lawyers, judges, and others we interviewed praised Judge Kavanaugh’s integrity.
We cite representative comments as follows:
“His integrity is absolutely unquestioned. He is very circumspect in his personal conduct and harbors no biases or prejudices.”
* * *
“He has the highest personal morality and the highest ethics.”
* * *
“...his integrity is absolutely unquestioned. He harbors no biases or prejudices.”
* * *
“He is what he seems, very decent, humble, and honest.”
* * *
“He is entirely ethical and is a really decent person.”
* * *
“He is believed to be trustworthy and of high integrity, a man of good character. He is a nice person and a good human being.”
* * *
“His reputation for honesty and integrity is excellent.”
* * *
“He always seeks to be fair. He is not result oriented. He always wants to do the right thing.”
One can go on—and they did so in their testimony (see about 19 minutes in)— but this gives the flavor of it. They cite no adverse opinions of Kavanaugh. While the ABA Committee members aren’t private detectives, they completely missed the Kozinksi controversy, which was in the Washington Post. They obviously missed the stolen e-mail controversy, which came up in Kavanaugh’s 2004/2006 hearings and cost him a substantial delay on appointment to the DC Appeals Court. And, given the response of his Yale classmates and the current students and faculty to his nomination, the ABA could only have failed to find critics of Kavanaugh if they failed to look.
The ABA has been doing a worse and worse job on Supreme Court nominees. They need to be told that with misses as bad as Kavanaugh, they are no longer serving the legal profession. The ABA contact information is here (if you contact them, please be courteous, on-point, and correct on the facts):
Suite 400, 1050 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington DC 20036
202-662-1000
2020-662-1032
Their list of officers includes, along with a partial bio:
Bob Carlson, President
Bob Carlson, a shareholder with the Butte, Montana, law firm of Corette Black Carlson & Mickelson, P.C., is president of the American Bar Association, the world's largest voluntary professional organization with more than 400,000 members.
William Bay
Chair, House of Delegates, (2018-2020)
Partner, Thompson Coburn, St. Louis, Missouri
An accomplished litigator with a career-long record of service to the local, state and national bar, Bill Bay is a St. Louis partner with Thompson Coburn LLP, an AmLaw 200 firm with offices across the United States. As the chair of the ABA House of Delegates, Bill serves in the second-highest office in the ABA and leads the organization’s policymaking body.
Judy Perry Martinez
Judy Perry Martinez of Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn in New Orleans is president-elect of the American Bar Association and will become president of the more than 400,000-member organization in August 2019.
Martinez served at the firm from 1982 to 2003 as a partner, member of the governing committee, and commercial litigator. In 2003, she joined Northrop Grumman Corporation, where she served as assistant general counsel-litigation, managing litigation for the western half of the country before becoming vice president and chief compliance officer in 2011.
Mary L. Smith, Secretary
Mary L. Smith is a former chief executive responsible for managing a national health care system serving approximately 2.2 million persons with a budget of over $6 billion that includes 26 hospitals. She also served as Special Counsel & Estate Trust Officer at the Office of Special Deputy Receiver in Chicago, Illinois where she helped to manage over 20 insurance companies with approximately $1.5 billion in assets.
Michelle Benke
Michelle is the principal of the firm Michelle Behnke & Associates, where her practice is focused in the areas of business, real estate and estate planning. Michelle's experience in the real estate area was recognized by her election to membership in the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. She was also recently elected into The American Law Institute.
Michelle has been a member of the House of Delegates since 2008.
Hillarie Bass
As president of international law firm Greenberg Traurig and a prolific trial attorney with a highly successful 30-plus year career, Hilarie Bass is one of the most recognized women attorneys in the United States. Bass is currently immediate past president of the American Bar Association, the world’s largest voluntary professional organization with more than 400,000 members. At Greenberg Traurig, she helps chart the course for the multi-practice firm with approximately 2,000 attorneys across 38 offices worldwide. She currently serves on the firm’s Executive Committee and previously served an eight-year term as national chair of its 600-member litigation department. Hilarie is also the founder and former chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Women's Initiative.
Bass has successfully represented high-profile corporate clients in jury and non-jury trials involving hundreds of millions of dollars in controversy.
Jack Rives
JACK L. RIVES is originally from Rockmart, Georgia. Following graduation from Darlington School in Rome, Georgia, he received both his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and law school degrees from the University of Georgia.
Following graduation from law school, Jack began a 33-year career in the United States Air Force as a military attorney, or judge advocate (JAG).