Review of "Dumbing Down the Courts" at the Washington Examiner

Conn Carroll's review at the Washington Examiner starts this way:

Unless you are a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, you probably have never heard of Lillian BeVier. 

BeVier graduated at the top of her class from Stanford Law School in 1965, where she worked as an editor of the prestigious Stanford Law Review. She went on to receive multiple distinguished awards throughout her career in private practice before joining the University of Virginia law faculty in 1973. 

By 1991, she was the perfect candidate with ideal credentials when President George H.W. Bush nominated her for a vacancy on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Yet despite assurances from then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del., BeVier never even got a hearing. 

In 2005, BeVier was still “surprised at how exercised [she] can get about it after 12 years,” John Lott reports in his new book, “Dumbing Down The Courts: How Politics Keeps the Smartest Judges Off the Bench.” BeVier told Lott that she “really felt sandbagged by the process.” . . .