NPR's Barbara Bradley reports that President Bush has decided to end a five-decade tradition of the American Bar Association screening potential federal judicial candidates. White House Counsel Al Gonzales has written to the ABA, informing the group the White House will no longer provide names before they are made public. The ABA has a special committee that has screened candidates since the Eisenhower administration. The panel gave potential judges the ratings of "well qualified," "qualified" or "not qualified." Some conservatives opposed ABA screening, saying they believed the ABA had a liberal bias.
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