What Happened to the ABA?

Here's a discussion by Jonathan Adler at volokh.com of possible bias in the ABA's evaluation of judicial nominees. An excerpt:

"[maybe] the ratings reflect the perspective of a somewhat-insular white liberal elite that has a tendency to give higher ratings to those who are most like them in background, experience and perspective."

Back in the 1950's, the ABA and the AMA were two pillars of the establishment, which was moderate to conservative. (Malcolm Gladwell's new book has a chapter on how the establishment looked down on some Jewish lawyers.) I don't know what's happened in 50 years to change the ABA (not that I necessarily agree with Adler).