Backgrounder
This updated Backgrounder describes the process by which the Standing Committee conducts its evaluations of the professional qualifications of nominees to the Article III and Article IV federal courts on a post-nomination basis.
Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary
The Standing Committee provides the Senate Judiciary Committee, the administration, and the public with its independent, nonpartisan peer evaluation of the professional qualifications of every judicial nominee to the Article III and Article IV federal courts.
Federal Judiciary Ratings
Written Statements
From time to time, the Standing Committee is asked by the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at a confirmation hearing. The Standing Committee primarily testifies at hearings for Supreme Court nominees and in cases where the Standing Committee has rated a nominee "Not Qualified." View links to all of the written statements submitted by the Standing Committee to the Senate Judiciary Committee since 1993.
About the Committee
The Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary (FJC) of the American Bar Association evaluates the professional qualifications of all nominees to the Supreme Court of the United States, circuit courts of appeals, district courts (including territorial district courts) and the Court of International Trade. The Committee’s goal is to support and encourage the selection of the best-qualified persons for the federal judiciary. It restricts its evaluation to issues bearing on professional qualifications and does not consider a nominee's philosophy or ideology. The Committee's peer-review process is structured to achieve impartial evaluations of the integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament of nominees for the federal judiciary.
Learn More - About UsPresident Eisenhower on the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary
President Eisenhower Thanks the Standing Committee During a 1955 address to attendees of the ABA’s 78th Annual Meeting, President Dwight D. Eisenhower thanks the Standing Committee for providing the White House with its evaluations of the professional qualifications of individuals under consideration for nomination to the federal bench. Since then, the Standing Committee has provided its assistance on a pre-nomination basis to nine administrations, Democratic and Republican alike.