We live in strange times indeed to see the American Bar Association supporting both tort reform and the reigning in of runaway asbestos litigation. The ABA has long quietly but firmly worked against both of these ideas. However, with a new sheriff in town, it seems that the organization is looking not to be left in the dust. Yesterday the group, at its midyear meeting, passed resolutions supporting laws expanding federal jurisdiction over classaction lawsuits and establishing medical criteria for claims of non-malignant asbestosis-related disease.

The ABA’s old attitude toward this issue, according to Walter Olson, tort-reform expert and editor of the Overlawyered.com Web site, was that “We are free to throw dead cats at it.” But as Congress considers, at the urging of President Bush, the Class Action Fairness Act — which would make it easier to remove class-action suits to federal court, thwarting forum shopping — the group is fighting to remain relevant. According to the Federalist Society’s “Barwatch Bulletin,” published electronically, both the president of the ABA, Alfred Carlton, and its president-elect, Dennis Archer, urged the organization’s House of Delegates to adopt the tort-reform resolution to ensure “a place at the table.” As Mr. Olson put it, they were likely worried that “Bad things could happen if the wording were hammered out at some markup session that we’re not in.”

On the resolution regarding asbestos litigation, the ABA appears to be simply acknowledging political and legal reality. As Mr. Olson related, every liberal Supreme Court justice has acknowledged that something needs to be done to reign in asbestos suits. In fact, a split has arisen even in the plaintiffs’ bar. While the Association of Trial Lawyers of America shouldn’t be expected to join the ABA any time soon — ATLA is almost all plaintiffs’ attorneys, as opposed to the far more diverse ABA — there is a split in that organization’s membership between those who represent truly injured plaintiffs and those who represent clients with nothing but speculative harm. That the anti-reform coalition is falling apart is newsworthy. And it’s the tough stance of the Bush administration leading to the buckling.