WASHINGTON — Tulsa attorney John O’Connor’s nomination to be a federal judge in Oklahoma once again was held over Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The committee’s action covered a number of nominations and was not linked to a “not qualified” rating O’Connor received from the American Bar Association last month.
It came without discussion as the committee fell into yet another partisan debate over how it should move forward with the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.
After the meeting, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who made the motion to hold the nominations over a week, explained it was a routine request under the committee rules.
In an August letter to the Judiciary Committee leaders, Paul Moxley of Salt Lake City, Utah, chairman of the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, wrote that the panel found O’Connor to be not qualified on qualities ranging from intellectual capacity and judgment to knowledge of the law.
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O’Connor responded to the ABA’s rating in a written statement released last month to the Tulsa World.
“Since 1995, I have received the highest peer ratings for ethics and competence as determined by a host of peer reviews, including the gold standard Martindale Hubbell AV Rating,” he stated.
He also provided several letters of support from Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak, colleagues at Hall Estill law firm and others that speak directly to the issues cited by the ABA.
Tillis said he expects the O’Connor nomination to appear on the committee’s next business agenda.
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