Griffith's court nomination suffers a blow

WASHINGTON — Thomas Griffith, nominated to the nation's second-highest court, has not had a license to practice law in Utah for the four years he has served as general counsel at Brigham Young University.

Spokesmen for him say most of the work he did there was administrative. They say when he did give legal advice, it was while working through other BYU lawyers who are licensed in Utah.

John Baldwin, executive director of the Utah State Bar, said if that is the case, no laws were apparently violated. However, Griffith's nomination still took a possibly fatal hit as the lead item on a front-page Washington Post story asserted that Griffith "has been practicing law in Utah without a state license for the past four years."

That comes after earlier disclosures that Griffith had failed to pay dues to the District of Columbia Bar Association for three years while he worked there — a requirement in D.C. for a law license. Spokesmen for him blamed nonpayment on administrative staff and said Griffith paid the dues immediately when he found out about it.

The problems appear to have delayed his confirmation hearing. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, had said he would hold a hearing this week on Griffith. However, committee spokeswoman Margarita Tapia said no hearing for him has been scheduled, although she said Hatch still considers Griffith an excellent nominee.

Delay could easily kill Griffith's nomination because the Senate traditionally will not confirm any judge during an election year after the first national political party convention. With the Democratic National Convention scheduled next month, Griffith has little time left to wend through the confirmation process.

Griffith is nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, considered the nation's second-highest court because of a heavy case load of federal government cases and because many of its judges have also moved on to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nominees are instructed not to talk to the press while confirmation is pending.

However, Justice Department spokesman John Nowacki, speaking on Griffith's behalf, said when Griffith moved to Utah from Washington, he "sought advice from the Utah bar whether as general counsel at BYU, he needed to be admitted to the Utah bar."

He said, "The Utah State Bar advised him that to the extent that his duties as general counsel were to give legal advice, he had to closely associate himself with a licensed Utah State Bar member."