President Joe Biden’s (D) administration has had the highest number of Article III judicial nominees with Well Qualified ABA ratings in the last 30 years with 165. President Donald Trump (R) had the most Qualified judicial nominees with 79. He also had the most Not Qualified nominees with 6. Including renominations, the number of Well Qualified nominees increased with each president since Bill Clinton (D), except for a decrease during President Barack Obama’s (D) administration.
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a nationwide voluntary professional association of attorneys. Since 1956, its standing committee on the federal judiciary has issued ratings for every Article III judicial nominee commissioned to a life term on a federal court. The committee rates each nominee Well Qualified, Qualified, or Not Qualified.
According to the ABA, the committee focuses on three areas in its evaluation:
