Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The American Bar Association will release its rating of Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito in the next few weeks and the appeals court judge will likely get the organization's highest rating, unanimous well-qualified. The assessment will come a few weeks before his January hearings in the Senate.

The ABA rated Alito once before, when the first President Bush nominated him for the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The group gave him its highest rating at that time and observers say there's no reason why he won't get it again.

The ABA has rated judicial candidates since the 1950s and though the organization took a decidedly pro-abortion turn more than a decade ago, it's assessment of judicial candidates is still highly regarded.

The ABA relies on the views of colleagues, an interview with the nominee, and academics to determine the quality of a potential judge.

Meanwhile, two professors have come up with another more complex method of ranking judges based on their productivity, quality of opinions, and judicial independence.

Stephen Choi, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley Law School and Mitu Gulati, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, came up with the formula.

According to their rankings, Alito came out 16th out of 74 active appellate court judges, with high marks for independence. He was the 4th most neutral.