ABA rates Wallace "unqualified", and the LIBERALS are the reason!

Since his nomination Feb. 8, Wallace has drawn criticism from liberal interest groups, which say he is not supportive enough of civil rights and legal services for the poor. "The president should immediately withdraw his nomination," Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal organization People for the American Way, said yesterday.
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"We disagree with the ABA and reject their rating," said Bush spokeswoman Erin E. Healy.

(comments from key players)
The ABA did not say why it rated Wallace so poorly.
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Wallace would not comment.
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"We disagree with the ABA and reject the rating," White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said.
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(some history)
His nomination has drawn opposition from civil rights groups because he helped Lott lobby on behalf of Bob Jones University. The then-segregated school was defending its right to take federal tax deductions in a case before the Supreme Court.
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Wallace also worked with Lott to require that plaintiffs in voting rights cases prove an intent to discriminate, not just the effects of discrimination.
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These issues were raised in the Senate in 1983, when Bush's father appointed Wallace to head the Legal Services Corp., a government agency that provides legal help for the poor.
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(some opinions)
John Sneed, who works with Wallace at Phelps Dunbar law firm in Jackson, was surprised at the ABA rating. "Whoever gave that rating doesn't know what it takes to be a judge," Sneed said.
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"We think the ABA got it exactly right," said Leslie Proll, director of the Washington office of the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund.
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People for the American Way President Ralph Neas said Bush should stop promoting "Michael Wallace-type nominees" to "fire up arch conservative voters and bring them to the polls."