Justice Department tells American Bar Association it will no longer comply with ratings for judicial nominees

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FIRST ON FOX— The Justice Department on Thursday formally notified the American Bar Association that it will no longer comply with its ratings process for judicial nominees, the result of what it argues is a biased system and one that "invariably and demonstrably" favors nominees put forth by Democratic administrations.

The letter, sent by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to ABA President William R. Bay, was previewed exclusively to Fox News. It marks the latest escalation in a protracted legal fight that Republicans have waged against the nation's largest association of legal professionals.

"For several decades, the American Bar Association has received special treatment and enjoyed special access to judicial nominees," Bondi said in the letter. "In some administrations, the ABA received notice of nominees before a nomination was announced to the public. Some administrations would even decide whether to nominate an individual based on a rating assigned by the ABA." 

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Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference regarding immigration enforcement at the Department of Justice, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

The Department of Justice said in the letter that it will no longer grant the ABA the "special treatment" and first access it has received, revoking decades of precedent where the ABA interviewed and vetted potential members of the incoming DOJ team.

"Accordingly, while the ABA is free to comment on judicial nominations along with other activist organizations, there is no justification for treating the ABA differently from such other activist organizations and the Department of Justice will not do so."

It also ended an Office of Legal Policy that directed judicial nominees to provide waivers allowing the ABA access to non-public information for nominees, including bar records. 

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The Department of Justice's headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer)

"Nominees will also not respond to questionnaires prepared by the ABA and will not sit for interviews with the ABA," Bondi said.

The Trump administration's decision to excise the ABA from the judicial nomination process comes after several Republican senators on the Senate committee tasked with vetting judicial nominees told the ABA in a letter earlier this year that they planned to ignore its rating system.

The ABA, established in the late 1800s, is the nation's largest voluntary legal association. Since its founding, it has grown into a sprawling organization that touts a membership of over 400,000— including lawyers, law students, and paralegals, among others. 

But it has sparked criticism from Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, previously blasted the ABA as a "radical left-wing advocacy group."

President Donald Trump and US Attorney General Pam Bondi (L) arrive to speak at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.  (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty)

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He and others on the panel previously took aim at the group for embracing so-called "woke initiatives," including its heavy use of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI efforts, in many facets of its work.

This is not the first time Republican administrations have broken with the ABA. The George W. Bush administration ended the practice of giving the ABA a first look at nominees, and Trump also did so in his first presidential term. 

A source for the American Bar Association told Fox News that the group has seen the letter and does not have a comment on it now, but will going forward.