Stated ‘other qualifications’ once included partisan campaign work and friendships with senators

Evidence

A perfect example is former Attorney General Griffin Bell, who served on the Fifth Circuit before resigning to head the Justice Department. In addition to his legal credentials, Bell noted that he had other qualifications for the court of appeals: “I managed John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in Georgia. Two of my oldest and closest friends were the two senators from Georgia. And I was the campaign manager and special, unpaid counsel for the governor.” — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 471

Categorization

• SHARE: Griffin Bell’s unvarnished quote is worth sending to anyone teaching or studying judicial selection as a primary-source gem.
• CANDY: A clean, quotable confession that patronage, not merit, once dominated circuit appointments.
• XREF: connects to: Healthy partisanship requires the self-discipline to admit being only a part — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 196

Broader Connections

• Healthy partisanship requires the self-discipline to admit being only a part #exemplifies (0.75) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 196