Posted on 09/13/2018 3:22:14 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In a rare move for the bar group, the New York City Bar Association is withholding a rating of Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee.
The New York City Bar said Thursday that it was unable to determine whether Kavanaugh is qualified to serve on the Supreme Court “because the public record is incomplete on whether he possesses the personal integrity necessary to serve in that role.”
The city bar assesses whether a Supreme Court nominee is “highly qualified,” “qualified,” or “not qualified” based on a set of several factors. It’s rare the city bar has withheld an evaluation for a Supreme Court nominee. However, in 1991, the city bar withheld a rating for Judge Clarence Thomas, citing concerns about his appreciation of the role of the court in protecting individual rights.
In a Thursday release, the city bar said: “Kavanaugh has been an exceptionally capable appellate judge.” The bar group said it found that Kavanaugh possessed “many of the attributes that would qualify him to be a Supreme Court justice,” including that his written opinions span a breadth of legal topics and are clear and concise. The city bar said his rulings “show faithfulness to the constitutional limitations on judicial power and said the results in his opinions “fall across the spectrum and do not demonstrate an exclusive predisposition or ideology.”
Still, the city bar said the record is inadequate to evaluate whether Kavanaugh possesses the “unquestionable integrity and independence” necessary for it to find him qualified to serve on the high court. The city bar noted that about 100,000 pages of records relating to the nominee’s six years with the George W. Bush White House, first as an associate counsel, and later as the president’s staff secretary, have been withheld.
An additional 42,000 pages of documents relating to that period were disclosed to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 3, but were marked “confidential,” prohibiting public release, the city bar noted.
“The lack of access to these documents has prevented an accurate assessment of Judge Kavanaugh’s qualifications,” and a meaningful review of whether he was forthright in his 2004 and 2006 sworn testimony when he was nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit and in his testimony this month for his Supreme Court nomination, the city bar said.
In particular, the city bar said there is a “substantial question about whether Judge Kavanaugh has testified truthfully.” The bar group cited Kavanuagh’s testimony over the years about Republican staffers in 2001 and 2003 improperly accessing and distributing computer files of Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee relating to judicial nominations.
“Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony appears to reflect a shift: in 2004 and 2006, he denied that he had ever seen the improperly obtained materials; in 2018, he denied knowing that materials he’d admittedly received had been improperly obtained,” the city bar said.
The withholding of documents relating to Kavanaugh’s years in the White House, the city bar said, prevents a “reliable assessment of whether he has told the truth under oath.”
Last year, the city bar gave Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, a qualified rating.
Where in HELL does the Constitution give ANY authority to the New York City Bar Association??????
After hearing about MI-6’s role in the Trump dossier, do we really care what the BRITISH ACCREDITATION REGISTRY has to say about Kavenaugh?
The leftwads have things worked around so that they can act wrongfully, wreak satanic evil, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
Who found the PUBIC hair this time??
It doesn’t - there’s been some argument that these bar associations are nothing more than discriminatory gatekeepers and even though they’re held in high esteem as self-regulatory bodies that they’re not actually constitutional.
Performing their expected role here too.
“In a rare move for the bar group, the New York City Bar Association is withholding a rating of Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee.”
Have another 9/11 NYC...you learned nothing from the first one.
“Where in HELL does the Constitution give ANY authority to the New York City Bar Association??????”
In related news, the Supreme Holy Bar of Tehran is withholding its opinion of Bibi Netayahu’s suitability to being the Prime Minister of Israel.
The bar has no authority except to withhold its endorsement. The senators who wish to confirm Kavanaugh will just ignore this, and the senators against him will try to make a big deal out of it. It’s a nothing cheeseburger.
Has anyone noticed that New York is trying to be the New Federal government. Trying to subvert D.C. ?
It’s not like it’s a real professional organization, it’s only the NYC Bar.
I’d rather hear from the National Association of Soda Jerks.
IOW, there's no further Constitutional obstacle apart from the Senate confirmation vote. The stupidity and childishness of the lying Demagogic Party makes it less likely that any Pubbie votes will turn now.
Just another one of Chuck Schumer’s dirty tricks.
Bunchy Corrupt Liberal ‘elites’... who gives a damn what they think? They would pass Stormy the Whore if she was before them...
The organization have been politicized and should henceforth be disregarded.
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