Of all the illogical and bizarre modes for the state Legislature, the confirmation process for a member of the state Supreme Court is perhaps the closest one gets to recreating Alice in Wonderland.
On Monday, the state Senate voted 23 to 1 to confirm state Circuit Judge Michael Wilson to the Supreme Court.
Wilson is the third top court nomination for Gov. Neil Abercrombie and easily the most controversial.
From the start of the process, Wilson was never seen as either a sure pick or an obvious candidate.
Observers said while Wilson’s body of legal work was fine, detractors said it was unremarkable.
Wilson’s name was one of six sent to the governor by the Judicial Selection Commission.
Thanks to the commission’s concern for our public’s government operating in the open, the names of six nominees are known by all, despite Abercrombie’s repeated attempts to keep them secret.
The confusion with Wilson’s nomination was that the Hawaii State Bar Association called the 10-year veteran of the Circuit Court "unqualified" to sit on the Supreme Court.
The association refuses to go into chapter and verse on how it reached that conclusion, but it did cite "work ethic concerns, lack of professionalism in the workplace, questions concerning the propriety of conduct toward women in professional contexts, and the ability to serve at the level of a Supreme Court justice."
By then, Wilson’s nomination had fallen far down the rabbit hole and the Senate was queuing up for the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
There is nothing more off-putting than having the 25 politicians in the state Senate sternly announce that "politics must be removed" from the process of nominating and confirming Supreme Court nominees.
If you had heard that the bar association had examined a judicial nomination and announced that person "unqualified," it would not be a leap in logic to assume that the nomination was pau.
But in Hawaii, pau then doesn’t mean pau now.
Back in 2010 when Republican Gov. Linda Lingle nominated Appeals Court Judge Katherine Leonard as chief judge of the Supreme Court, the bar association said she was unqualified because she didn’t have enough experience as an administrator.
The chief judge runs the third branch of government and is a much more important job than an associate position on the high court.
The Senate’s lone Republican, Sam Slom, did vote for Democratic nominee Wilson, and the single "no" vote came from a strong Democrat, Maui’s Sen. Roz Baker.
"There was something I just couldn’t put my finger on — was he the best and brightest; couldn’t we do better? I have a nagging doubt," Baker said in a floor speech yesterday.
Getting a thumbs down from the bar association may mean one thing for Republican nominees and something else for Democratic nominees.
Leonard was repeatedly called a brilliant attorney with a fine legal mind. Wilson was called a great guy and was strongly supported by not only the governor, but the governor’s wife.
If Alice had attended Monday’s session, she would be describing it as "curiouser and curiouser!"
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
