The American Bar Association (ABA) is calling on the new President and the next United States Senate to end the sometimes bitter partisanship that often surrounds judicial nominations. Fighting over stalled judicial nominees has been as fierce during this session of Congress as ever before.
The Associated Press reports:
The American Bar Association is calling on the next president and Senate to reduce partisan tensions in federal judicial nominations.
The incoming president of the lawyers’ group, H. Thomas Wells Jr. of Birmingham, Ala., said Sunday that he also is enlisting the help of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to study threats to fair and impartial state courts.
At the federal level, the White House should create a commission of Democrats and Republicans to recommend nominees for federal appeals courts and the two senators from each state should establish similar panels to evaluate and recommend federal trial judges, the ABA says in a resolution inspired by Wells. The proposal is certain to be adopted at the group’s annual meeting in New York.
The bipartisan panels would help “avoid the times when there have been really rancorous debates in the confirmation process,” Wells said in an interview with The Associated Press.
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