Patrick Leahy: “Practicing law without a license, or as the bars call it, unauthorized practice of law, is not a technicality. In some…”

“Practicing law without a license, or as the bars call it, unauthorized practice of law, is not a technicality. In some States it is a crime. In Texas, for example, it is a third degree felony. It is a serious dereliction of a lawyer's duty. It is a commonplace of American jurisprudence that no one is above the law. If the American people are to have confidence in our system of laws that must include the lawyers, and beyond question, it must include the judges. I continue to be disappointed by Mr. Griffith's unwillingness to do what is now long overdue: namely, to take the Utah bar exam and become properly licensed to practice law in Utah, where Mr. Griffith has been practicing law for the last 5 years. Despite the evident controversy surrounding his practice of law in Utah for 5 years without becoming a member of the Utah bar, he appears to have comfortably and conveniently placed himself above the law. That is not something I look for in lifetime appointments to the Federal courts. For a court that decides some of the most important issues of law in our Nation, where the ruling in just one case can affect millions of people in the most critical areas of their lives, the President has chosen to send us a nominee whose disregard for the rules that apply to him is simply unacceptable. Over the months that this nomination has been pending before us we have done a good deal of investigation into this matter on a bipartisan basis.…”