ABA gives Roberts the go

The following was originally posted at the legal redux:

Amid vast media speculation that Judge John G. Roberts Jr. might be unfit for duty, and pointed questions about the Justice's environmental record, civil rights opinions and abortion views, the American Bar Association has given Roberts the highest marks available, clearing a major hurdle for him on the path to the Supreme Court.

The Associated Press reports that every time Roberts has received the top rating (“well qualified”), he has also been confirmed:

[Roberts] was designated well qualified in 2001 when he was nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He received the same rating in 2003 when he was nominated again for the appeals courts and then confirmed. He was rated as qualified as an appeals court nominee in 1992, but the Senate never took up that nomination.

The ABA rates judges with a tertiary system; they decide between "not qualified,” "qualified” and "well qualified” for each nominee. The fifteen member panel was unanimous in its decision.

Clarence Thomas was rated as “qualified/not qualified” by the ABA, David Souter and Antonin Scalia were both voted highly qualified before their Supreme Court confirmations.