Bar association gives Gorsuch its best rating

The American Bar Association declared Judge Neil Gorsuch “well-qualified” to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, giving President Donald Trump’s pick to succeed the late Antonin Scalia the group’s highest rating.

The bar association’s standing committee on the federal judiciary reached its decision unanimously, according to Nancy Scott Degan, the group’s chair.

Degan informed Sens. Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, respectively, of the committee’s rating in a letter Thursday. She also wrote to White House counsel Don McGahn and Gorsuch, she said.

Gorsuch, a conservative whose appointment has been happily received by Senate Republicans, is widely considered qualified to serve on the high court, given his experience as a federal appellate judge. Democrats who have criticized the choice have focused on their ideological concerns, rather than raising questions about his qualifications.

Grassley, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, reacted to the bar association’s decision with a glowing statement on Thursday.

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