Senator Mike Lee: ABA's "Ongoing Fraud Must Stop"

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

Does ABA Blind-Eye Chinese Organ Harvest?

Back in the news again is this recurrent topic of the Chinese government's allegedly involuntary extraction of organs from imprisoned religious and political dissidents.  Interestingly, the American Bar Association's background page relating to its "Rule of Law Initiative" in China omits any mention of or concern for this issue.  Rather, the ABA has devoted its efforts to such ends as increasing sensitivities to rights of LGBTQ persons, and in one incident (in April of 2016) a leaked ABA staff email suggested ABA had withdrawn a publication offer for a work that might upset the Chinese government.

After reading the linked article, I ran a few searches to see if I could learn what, if anything, the ABA's Rule of Law Initiative is actually doing for anyone in China.  It turned out very few specifics are available.  Apart from ABA's own general background discussion, there is very little to indicate it has been active to any meaningful degree.  Certainly it is not among the organizations referenced in the linked article as gathering evidence of the crimes against humanity associated with the reported organ extraction activities.  Could it be that the ABA is again concerned that it might upset the Chinese government by any improvident mention of these issues?  For whatever reason, ABA and its Rule of Law Initiative seem to be missing in action in this instance.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/survivors-and-victims-on-shocking-state-sanctioned-organ-harvesting-in-china/ar-AAJp1Qn