Justice Thomas Griffith

I'm conflicted about the confirmation of Thomas Griffith to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He's a fellow Mormon and Utahn, but I don't understand how he got away with practicing law without being admitted to the Utah Bar and without paying his dues to the D.C. bar. I suppose he never had to practice before a Utah Court and could if he did, could associate with local counsel, but that doesn't change the fact that he was practicing law in Utah when he advised BYU.

I don't like it when prominent people think they're above the law because they're too important, and that's what this looks like. However, he's been nominated before and didn't make it out of the Judiciary Committee in 2004, and I think he's taken the point. Bar Associations are pretty generous at forgiving violations where no actual harm was done. There was no proof that he wasn't qualified by training and experience, so I would expect the bars involved to not make too big a deal of his missteps. Yet, I still have a nagging doubt about his devotion to enforcing the laws.