Real Estate & Property Law

Hawaii State Bar Association Gives CJ-Appointee "Unqualified" Rating

By Robert Thomas (inversecondemnation.com)

On Monday, August 2, the Hawaii State Bar Association gave Intermediate Court of Appeals Judge Katherine Leonard an "unqualified" rating. No explanation was available publicly.

The only reference on the HSBA web site as of 6:20 p.m. was a press release about the HSBA review process, and some other general information about the process. Nothing about why the HSBA came out with a negative recommendation mere hours before the scheduled 9:30 a.m. hearing tomorrow. 

Governor Lingle responded:

"The State Bar Association?s review process was unfair, flawed, and conducted under a veil of secrecy, with no accountability to the public.  The HSBA has refused to state its reasons for its ratings.

"It is impossible to know whether there is political, gender or ethnic bias on the part of the HSBA, since they refuse to state their reasons.  I hope the Senate will see there is no validity to their ratings.  I have confidence that the Senate will carefully consider the overwhelming favorable testimony from the legal community and those who know Judge Leonard?s and Judge To?oto?o?s respective bodies of work, as well as their character and integrity.

I believe [t]he Senate committee has the responsibility to do the right thing and give both judges a positive recommendation.

Remember that tomorrow (August 3) at 9:30 a.m. (HST), we will be live blogging the Senate Judiciary hearing.

Full post as published by inversecondemnation on August 03, 2010 (boomark / email).