A Crying Shame

On Wednesday, Lawrence VanDyke, Donald Trump’s nominee for a seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, made news by crying at his confirmation hearing. He began weeping after he was confronted with a letter from the American Bar Association that had deemed him “Not Qualified,” a ranking based on 60 interviews with 43 lawyers, 16 judges, and one other person who had worked with him. In their dealings with VanDyke, these individuals found him to be “arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice...