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The '''American Bar Association''' is a national association of [[United States]] lawyers whose stated purpose is the improvement of lawyers and the administration of justice.  The organization was founded in 1878 and has over 300,000 members.  Every state and city has affiliated groups. Nearly all law schools must pass rigid accreditation by the ABA.  

The '''American Bar Association''' is a national association of [[United States]] lawyers whose stated purpose is the improvement of lawyers and the administration of justice.  The organization was founded in 1878 and has over 300,000 members.  Every state and city has affiliated groups. Nearly all law schools must pass rigid accreditation by the ABA.  

==Rating candidates for federal judge==

==Rating candidates for federal judgeship==

The ABA since the 1920s played a major role in approving federal judges until it was dropped by the George W. Bush administration because of liberal bias. Numerous scholarly studies have demonstrated that liberal nominees do better in the process than conservative ones. Holding all other factors constant, those nominations submitted by a Democratic president were significantly more likely to receive higher A.B.A. ratings than nominations submitted by a Republican president.  

The ABA since the 1920s played a major role in approving federal judges until it was dropped by the George W. Bush administration because of liberal bias. Numerous scholarly studies have demonstrated that liberal nominees do better in the process than conservative ones. Holding all other factors constant, those nominations submitted by a Democratic president were significantly more likely to receive higher A.B.A. ratings than nominations submitted by a Republican president.  

However, the effect of higher ABA ratings on the likelihood of being confirmed is fairly small. Of all candidates for federal appeals court seats who received the group’s highest rating between 1977 and 2000, 85% were confirmed; but candidates with lower ratings were confirmed between 71% and 80% percent of the time.<ref>Adam Liptak, "Legal Group’s Neutrality Is Challenged,"  [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/us/31bar.html?_r=1&hp ''New York Times'' Mar. 30, 2009]</ref>

However, the effect of higher ABA ratings on the likelihood of being confirmed is fairly small. Of all candidates for federal appeals court seats who received the group’s highest rating between 1977 and 2000, 85% were confirmed; but candidates with lower ratings were confirmed between 71% and 80% percent of the time.<ref>Adam Liptak, "Legal Group’s Neutrality Is Challenged,"  [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/us/31bar.html?_r=1&hp ''New York Times'' Mar. 30, 2009]</ref>