Bias in ABA judicial ratings

I would like to highlight a forthcoming article in Political Research Quarterly entitled "Bias and the Bar: Evaluating the ABA Ratings of Federal Judicial Nominees." In the article Susan Smelcer of Emory, Amy Steigerwalt of Georgia State and Rich Vining of the University of Georgia (a Georgia Trifecta) find systematic liberal bias in the evaluations of judicial nominees by the ABA.  The research was featured in an New York Times article a few years ago and now it has gone through the peer review process. 

Of course it is controversial, and is already the subject of a rebuttal in the January 2012 issue of Judiciature. Take a look and decide.