New York Times Editorial - Qualified judges wanted

New York Times Editorial - Qualified judges wanted
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: August 15, 2006


The latest nominee that the White House's judicial selection team and Republican leaders have dug in their heels to defend is a far-right lawyer who received a unanimous "not qualified" rating from the American Bar Association. The Bush administration should withdraw his nomination and four others that are in limbo, and replace them with nominees who do not appeal exclusively to the most extreme wing of the Republican Party.

Michael Wallace, a former lawyer for Senator Trent Lott, the Mississippi Republican, has been nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, based in New Orleans. Wallace has a long record of insensitivity to civil rights. He argued in favor of letting Bob Jones University, which discriminated on the basis of race, keep its tax-exempt status, and he has a troubling record on voting rights.

The bar association has been generous in its evaluations of President George W. Bush's nominees, the overwhelming majority of whom have received ratings of "qualified" and "well qualified." Given that track record, a unanimous finding of "not qualified" should set off alarm bells.

With the Senate in recess, Wallace's nomination has been returned to the White House, along with others that the Senate wisely declined to confirm. Those nominees include William Haynes II, a chief architect of the administration's detainee policies. The White House should replace those men with nominees worthy of these important posts.