Justice Department tells American Bar Association it will no longer comply with ratings for judicial nominees

FIRST ON FOX— The Justice Department connected Thursday formally notified the American Bar Association that it volition nary longer comply with its ratings process for judicial nominees, the effect of what it argues is simply a biased strategy and 1 that "invariably and demonstrably" favors nominees enactment distant by Democratic administrations.

The letter, sent by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to ABA President William R. Bay, was previewed exclusively to Fox News. It marks the latest escalation successful a protracted ineligible combat that Republicans person waged against the nation's largest relation of ineligible workers.

"For respective decades, the American Bar Association has received peculiar attraction and enjoyed peculiar entree to judicial nominees," Bondi said successful the letter. "In immoderate administrations, the ABA received announcement of nominees earlier a information was announced to the public. Some administrations would adjacent determine whether to nominate an idiosyncratic based connected a standing assigned by the ABA." 

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks astatine a quality league regarding migration enforcement astatine the Justice Department, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, successful Washington.  (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

The Justice Department said successful the missive that it volition nary longer assistance the ABA the "special treatment" and archetypal entree it has received for years.

"Accordingly, portion the ABA is escaped to remark connected judicial nominations on with different activistic organizations, determination is nary justification for treating the ABA otherwise from specified different activistic organizations and the Department of Justice volition not bash so."

It besides ended an Office of Legal Policy that directed judicial nominees to supply waivers allowing the ABA entree to non-public accusation for nominees, including barroom records. 

"Nominees volition besides not respond to questionnaires prepared by the ABA and volition not beryllium for interviews with the ABA," Bondi said.

The Trump administration's determination to excise the ABA from the judicial information process comes aft respective Republican senators connected the Senate committee tasked with vetting judicial nominees told the ABA successful a missive earlier this twelvemonth that they planned to disregard its standing system.

The ABA, established successful the precocious 1800s, has grown into a sprawling enactment that touts a rank of implicit 400,000 ineligible workers.

But it has sparked disapproval from Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, antecedently blasted the ABA arsenic a "radical left-wing advocacy group."

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He and others connected the sheet antecedently took purpose astatine the radical for embracing alleged "woke initiatives," including its dense usage of diversity, equity, and inclusion, oregon DEI efforts, successful galore facets of its work.

This is not the archetypal clip Republican administrations person breached with the ABA. The George W. Bush medication ended the signifier of giving the ABA a archetypal look astatine nominees, and Trump besides did truthful successful his archetypal statesmanlike term. 

This is simply a processing story. Check backmost for updates.