In the wake of the backlash from ABA's fanatical attack on Ninth Circuit nominee Lawrence VanDyke, ABA has lost additional members, and Senator Mike Lee of Utah has called for revocation of ABA's role in judicial confirmation proceedings. As Senator Lee points out, ABA's overt display of bias in its rating process over a period of years belies its pretensions of neutrality, and the level of bias made manifest in its political smear of Lawrence VanDyke shows ABA's abuse of the special access it has been afforded.
Senator Lee has also asked ABA members to cut off their dues support or press internal demands for reform of ABA's abusive processes. This actually suggests that he is somewhat unaware of the last few decades of ABA's history, during which, it has become clear that the only option for dissenting members is to leave the ever-more-fanatical organization.
Also, Senator Lee does not seem to be aware of the numerical case for ABA's lack of legitimacy, given that it is now only supported by 12% to 13% of the nation's lawyers, with the bulk of its claimed "membership" consisting of students with "free memberships." However, public awareness of this point is clearly on the rise. Someone has now added information on ABA membership decline at the very start of the ABA Wikipedia page, and although the numbers are dated (from a few years ago, when ABA still had around 14.4% support), the message and trend are clear. ABA does not speak for, and cannot legitimately speak for, the legal profession in this country. More than 85% (currently 87% to 88%) of licensed attorneys have voted with their dues, and the vote is clearly one of no confidence in the failing ABA.
It seemed to me that a Senator on the Judiciary Committee issuing the kind of public statement that Senator Lee posted should be of significance to ABA. However, when I sent a link to the below story to Debra Cassens Weiss at ABA Journal, it apparently turned out not to be "newsworthy." Well, maybe the Journal thinks so, but I don't think they are going to be able to silence Senator Mike Lee, no matter how they try to sit on this embarrassing story.
https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2019/11/no-more-unearned-privilege-for-the-american-bar-association
No comments:
Post a Comment