The Hawaii State Bar Association has rated Circuit Judge Michael Wilson "unqualified" for the state Supreme Court, a potential setback for his state Senate confirmation.
The bar association evaluates judicial nominees based on integrity and diligence, legal knowledge and ability, professional experience, judicial temperament, financial responsibility, public service, health and the responsibilities and duties of the nomination. The association also interviews the nominee.
Gregory Markham, president-elect of the bar association, informed the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee in writing on Wednesday about the "unqualified" rating for Wilson.
"I don’t see this as a fatal blow to him," said Sen. Clayton Hee (D, Heeia-Laie-Waialua), the committee’s chairman. "I see it as an opportunity to allow the bar to fully explain to the public why he’s unqualified. And anything short of that would be an unfortunate stain on the nominee."
Hee said he met privately with Wilson on Wednesday afternoon and that Wilson indicated that he would withdraw only if asked by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who nominated him to be associate justice.
Hee also said he spoke privately with Abercrombie, who said he would not ask Wilson to withdraw. A confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning before Hee’s committee.
"Judge Michael Wilson was chosen from a list of six nominees selected by the Judicial Selection Commission," Abercrombie said in a statement Wednesday evening. "I share the commission’s confidence that Judge Wilson has the experience and leadership to serve as an effective Supreme Court justice for the state of Hawaii."
In the past, Hee and other senators have been disappointed with the bar association’s rating process, which some senators complain is cloaked in secrecy.
The bar association’s testimony on Wilson, for example, outlines the process and the criteria used in deliberations, but does not explain exactly why the association’s board of directors concluded that Wilson is unqualified for the Supreme Court.
Wilson, a former private attorney, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, and state consumer advocate, has served on the Circuit Court bench since 2000. He would be Abercrombie’s third appointment to the five-judge Supreme Court, and would serve a 10-year term if confirmed.
Wilson could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
"It’s a mystery to me how this individual who was qualified — by the bar — to serve as a Circuit Court judge in 2000, who was requalified in 2009 for a second 10-year term, is all of sudden now unqualified," Hee said. "So it’s a mystery to me, but one that they will have every opportunity to explain to the people of Hawaii tomorrow morning."
A negative bar association rating was one of the factors that led the Senate to reject Katherine Leonard, an associate judge on the Intermediate Court of Appeals, as chief justice of the Supreme Court in 2010. Leonard, who was nominated by Gov. Linda Lingle, would have been the first female chief justice.
Both Republicans and Democrats criticized the bar association’s rating process during the Leonard confirmation fight. Dante Carpenter, chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, at the time called it a "secret-society operation."
But the bar association has said attorneys must be able to confidentially review judicial nominees without fear of reprisals from judges who receive "unqualified" ratings.
Star-Advertiser reporter Nelson Daranciang contributed to this report.
