The American Bar Association’s qualification review of Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor is underway, the ABA announced this afternoon.
Lawyers, judges and community members who know Sotomayor will be interviewed as part of the evaluation by the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. The interviews will explore Sotomayor’s integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament.
Two panels of professors will read Sotomayor’s legal writings for quality, clarity, knowledge of the law and analytical ability. A separate panel made up of Supreme Court and appellate court practitioners will also examine Sotomayor’s writings. The ABA says Sotomayor will be interviewed.
The ABA’s findings will become part of a report presented to the 15 members of the standing committee, who are asked to evaluate the nominee as “well qualified,” “qualified” or “not qualified.” The committee, chaired by K&L Gates partner Kim Askew in Dallas, will then present a report to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Carolyn Williams, of counsel at Williams & Connolly, and Joseph Potenza of Banner & Witcoff, are members of the standing committee. Williams and Potenza were not immediately reached for comment this afternoon.
To read the ABA’s record on the last Supreme Court appointment, Justice Samuel Alito Jr., click here.
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