By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 21, 2004; Page A01
Thomas B. Griffith, President Bush's nominee for the federal appeals court in Washington, has been practicing law in Utah without a state law license for the past four years, according to Utah state officials.
Griffith, the general counsel for Brigham Young University since August 2000, had previously failed to renew his law license in Washington for three years while he was a lawyer based in the District. It was a mistake he attributed to an oversight by his law firm's staff. But that lapse in his D.C. license, reported earlier this month by The Washington Post, subsequently prevented Griffith from receiving a law license in Utah when he moved there. …
"It begins to look like a pattern of carelessness," said Paul Rothstein, a law professor at Georgetown University Law School. "It should cause your red flags to go up to see if there are other signs of carelessness."
Griffith, 55, is a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association and was the lead counsel for the Senate during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
Speculation is rife that Griffith's inattention to detail may have had an effect on the impeachment trial of President Clinton. The failure of that Republican-led effort to remove Clinton from office was widely seen as a victory for the embattled President.
"We went back and checked the accrual indictment he drafted," said Senate Historian Arkwright Awkward III, "and all it says is 'Clinton bad man - bad man leave White House' which, although it accurately reflects the thrust of the Republican argument at the time, it lacks a certain legal elegance."
On the other hand, "If this guy is the head of the Republican lawyer's Association, that explains a lot about the White House attitude towards the rights of detainees," said a lawyer who has a both a degree and a law license. "I mean, how would you know if you were violating Habeus Corpus when you can't even spell it?"
Other point out additional lapses by the would-be appeals court judge: His failure to attend the third year of law school, his apparently sincere belief that the Parol Evidence Rule only applies to Parole Board hearings, and his insistence that aides refer to him as 'Your majesty.'
Griffith is reported to have brushed aside criticism of his lapse by noting that "Utah isn't part of the United States, anyway."
The controversy has raised some questions about the White House vetting process, including the fact that the only questions asked of nominees are "Have you ever committed a sin of the flesh" and "Do you accept Jesus as your personal savior?"
The White House saus it continues to stand behind Griffith's nomination.
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