The American Bar Association’s formal evaluation of Judge Merrick Garland’s qualifications for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court is underway and could be completed soon, even though the Senate Judiciary Committee has no plans to hold a hearing on his nomination.
The association’s standing committee on the federal judiciary is in the midst of interviewing colleagues, lawyers who have argued before him and others, as well as Garland himself. The evaluation process dates to 1953, when the Eisenhower administration began consulting with the ABA on judicial nominations.
