Court Nominee Kennedy Given Top Bar Rating

Supreme Court nominee Anthony M. Kennedy Tuesday received the highest rating of an American Bar Assn. judicial review panel, the Justice Department announced, further bolstering his prospects for Senate confirmation.

The unanimous rating of “well qualified” given to Kennedy by the ABA’s standing committee on the federal judiciary contrasted with the 10-4-1 vote by which the committee split in giving previous nominee Robert H. Bork the same rating. Bork, President Reagan’s first choice for the high court vacancy, was rejected by the Senate, 58 to 42.

“Obviously, this is good news,” said Terry Eastland, the Justice Department’s chief spokesman. “Certainly, Judge Kennedy deserved it, and it is one more reason he should be swiftly confirmed.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin its hearings on the nomination Monday.

According to ABA standards, the “well qualified” rating goes to candidates “who meet the highest standards of professional competence, judicial temperament and integrity. The persons in this category must be among the best available for appointment to the Supreme Court.”

Panel Interviewed Judges

In evaluating a nominee, the ABA panel’s 15 members interview federal and state judges, practicing lawyers, law professors and deans, law clerks and lawyers representing indigents and minorities and other groups.

Separate teams of law professors and lawyers study the nominee’s legal opinions. In the case of Kennedy, who has written more than 400 opinions in his 12 years on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, three law schools rather than one participated in reviewing his writings because of the volume and the desire for speed, an ABA spokesman said.

In Bork’s nomination, four members of the committee found him “not qualified” and one voted “not opposed.”

Reagan’s second choice for the post, Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, withdrew before the ABA had completed its review.

When Kennedy was nominated by then-President Gerald R. Ford for the 9th Circuit in 1975, he received the next to highest ranking on a four-level scale for the appellate court. A source familiar with the ABA panel’s deliberations noted that Kennedy has gained 12 years of judicial experience since his first rating.

May Vote in January

Kennedy’s hearings before the Judiciary Committee are expected to continue through part or all of a week, with no vote expected before late January or early February.

Unlike the Bork hearings, when 120 witnesses sought to testify and were organized into panels to conserve time, only 26 witnesses so far have asked to appear. And only one of those, the National Organization for Women, has declared its opposition to Kennedy in advance.