In S.F., Ginsburg addresses standoff on appointments

(08-09) 15:43 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lamented the partisan stalemate over judicial appointments Monday, telling a legal convention in San Francisco that the Senate should re-establish the cooperative spirit that attended her own confirmation 17 years ago.

Ginsburg spoke at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association, which awarded her its highest honor, the ABA Medal. A pioneering women's-rights attorney before becoming a judge, she was introduced by outgoing ABA President Carolyn Lamm as "one of the most elegant role models for women lawyers in this country and around the world."

She is the fourth woman to receive the award, established in 1929...

"With ABA encouragement, may the U.S. Senate someday return to the collegial, bipartisan spirit that Justice Breyer and I had the good fortune to experience," Ginsburg said Monday.

In recent years, Republican leaders have accused the ABA, the nation's largest organization of lawyers, of a liberal bias. President George W. Bush halted the long-standing practice of submitting judicial candidates to the ABA for evaluation before announcing their nomination. President Obama has resumed the policy, but the assessments carry little weight with Senate Republicans.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/09/BA2N1ERDU0.DTL

practice.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Unhurt After Fall Outside Rhode Island Restaurant
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/antonin-scalia-unhurt-aft_n_675915.html

"...the ABA for evaluation before announcing their nomination." If memory serves me, Dubya cleared all his judicial appointments with the Federalist Society, a blatantly RW partisan group.