From the WSJ Opinion Archives
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A Judgment of Fact
The ABA is strictly nonideological.
Your July 26 editorial "An ABA Hit Job" is irresponsible and widely misses the mark. It mischaracterizes the work of the ABA Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary, and terribly misleads the public with respect to the evaluation of Mr. Wallace.
For more than 50 years, for both Republican and Democratic administrations, the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary has provided nonpartisan, nonideological review of the professional qualifications of judicial nominees. A unique aspect of its evaluation is a peer review of each nominee--confidential interviews with judges, lawyers and others who have first-hand knowledge of the candidate's professional qualifications. The committee examines only three factors in its evaluations: professional competence, integrity and judicial temperament. It explicitly does not consider a nominee's ideology or philosophy.
The president of the association and other officers of the association do not participate in any way in the Standing Committee's evaluation process. We do not even know the committee's rating of nominees until that information is disclosed publicly following the evaluation. I did not express any opinion to anyone during the evaluation process.
The chair of the committee does not participate in the investigation either, and does not vote. The chair operates much like an air traffic controller. Your effort to magnify beyond its true role a policy disagreement some two decades ago regarding the Legal Services Corporation is beneath dignifying. Two other committee members conducted the extensive investigation of Mr. Wallace. The committee's evaluation is based upon the information it received from dozens of his peers, colleagues, lawyers he worked with and judges he appeared before. The vote of the committee was unanimous.
I am advised that the Standing Committee has submitted a lengthy and detailed statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding Mr. Wallace's qualifications. It would be responsible for those backing his nomination to listen to the facts before attacking the messenger.
Mr. Greco is president of the American Bar Association.
