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I always take the ratings with a grain of salt. On the other hand, sometimes even if you disagree with the final rating assigned to a candidate, sometimes things dug up by the evaluation committee can be useful in evaluating a candidate.

In Florida and some other States, candidates for Federal Judgeships go before a Judicial Nominating Commission that was established years ago by Florida’s United States Senators and is bi-partisan. Candidates must submit lengthy applications, writing samples, etc. They are personally interviewed by the Commission. Their co-workers and community peers are questioned. From all that, the top three candidates are selected by the Commission, who then send them to the appropriate Senator, which would currently be Rubio, who, in consultation with Nelson, makes the final selection to send to the White House.

I think a better ABA evaluation method could be developed, but it would mean that the ABA would have to accept as members of the evaluation committees attorney’s who may not necessarily be dues paying members of the ABA. However, balancing these committees would make the ABA’s ratings more credible.