Watch Ben Sasse Crush the Myth that the American Bar Association is ‘Objective and Neutral’

Yesterday, Senator Ben Sasse took to the Senate floor to speak about the importance of the Senate’s duty with regard to confirming judicial nominees. In doing so he dropped some truth about the real nature of the American Bar Association, noting that they are not a neutral party and are in fact a liberal advocacy group and should be treated as such.

In many ways, the ABA is like the mainstream media. They are decidedly left of center on virtually every issue but try to portray themselves as being objective and fair. The left likes to pretend that it is actually the center so that they can dishonestly portray anyone on the right as “extreme.”

Sasse made some strong points about how the ABA’s recommendations should be understood.

“The American Bar Association is not neutral. The ABA is a liberal organization that has publicly and consistently advocated for left-of-center positions for more than two decades now,” said Senator Sasse. “The ABA has no right to special treatment by members of this body. It’s pretty simple — if you’re playing in the game, you don’t get to cherry pick who the referees are. Take just a moment to look at the amicus briefs that they have filed in recent years.”

Senator Sasse continued his speech, saying he supported the ABA’s right to take and fight for more liberal positions. It’s the right given to them and every American by the First Amendment. He says the issue he has is that the ABA attempts to “masquerade” as a neutral party.

“That is fine, but what’s not fine is that the ABA, which is a liberal advocacy organization, would masquerade as a neutral and objective evaluator of judicial candidates,” said Senator Sass. “The ABA cannot take blatantly liberal positions on the one hand and then masquerade as a neutral party on the other and then demand a special seat at the table in the Senate Judiciary Committee and in the Senate to try and tell us who is and isn’t supposedly qualified to be a judge.”

Listing the leftist causes the ABA has lent its support to over the years, Sasse called out his colleagues who lazily “outsource” their votes to the ABA or hide behind ABA recommendations as if they hold some special authority about who should or should not be a federal judge.

He asks fellow senators and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to not be fooled or pretend that the ABA is neutral. He says Americans deserve honesty.

“Just like the ABA has every right to advance its liberal policy positions, every senator has the right, and indeed the duty, to give our advice and consent on judicial nominees. If senators decide they like and value the ABA’s policy positions and they like and value the ABA’s ratings, they are free to give them due deference and consideration,” said Senator Sasse. “But don’t hide behind it. Don’t pretend the ABA is something that it is not. Do not ignore the facts of what the ABA has become. The American people deserve honest, not thinly veiled partisan ship.”

The leftist activism of the ABA is similar to that of the American Medical Association. The AMA comes out in favor of left wing causes like Obamacare while pretending it speaks for all medical doctors in the same way the ABA represents itself as speaking for the entire legal profession. Good on Sasse for driving these points home.

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