Statement of H. Thomas Wells Jr., President, American Bar Association Re: The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 16, 2009 – The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has been involved in evaluating the professional qualifications of federal judicial nominees for more than 60 years. We were pleased today to testify at the confirmation hearing of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. The Standing Committee rated her unanimously “Well-Qualified” to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Kim J. Askew of Dallas, Texas, is the chair of the Standing Committee, and Mary M. Boies of New York, is the Second Circuit representative and the lead evaluator on the committee’s investigation of Judge Sotomayor. Both Ms. Askew and Ms. Boies appeared today before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain the basis for the Standing Committee’s rating of Judge Sotomayor.

The Standing Committee makes a unique contribution to the vetting process by conducting an extensive, confidential peer review of each nominee’s professional competence, integrity and judicial temperament.

For a link to the testimony before the Committee of the Judiciary of the United States Senate, please go to: www.abanet.org/scfedjud/SCpage/sotomayorstatement.pdf

For additional information, visit the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary’s Web site at www.abanet.org/scfedjud/ .

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