Miers nominated to bench
White House counsel Harriet Miers, 60, who was a trailblazing lawyer in her native Texas but has never been a judge, was nominated today by President Bush to fill the Supreme Court vacancy that will be left by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Miers, a longtime Bush loyalist, had led the White House search for high court candidates, including recently confirmed Chief Justice John G. Roberts, whose first day leading the court began shortly after Bush's announcement. Her nomination harked back to Bush's 2000 presidential run when the man leading the search for a vice presidential running mate–Dick Cheney–settled on himself.
"For the past five years, Harriet Miers has served in critical roles in our nation's government, including one of the most important legal positions in the country," Bush said during an early-morning televised announcement with Miers, his personal lawyer, at his side. "She has devoted her life to the rule of law and the cause of justice." If confirmed, she would be the third woman ever to serve on the court and would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the bench.
In choosing Miers, the first female president of both the Dallas and Texas bar associations and described by those who know her as a workaholic, Bush bypassed his friend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Many believed the president wanted to name Gonzales, not a favorite of the religious right, as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
But Bush's choice of Miers, who first worked for the president 11 years ago when he was governor-elect of Texas, immediately ignited a firestorm–and not among Democrats. Many in the president's base of religious conservatives who didn't want Gonzales are equally outraged by the nomination of Miers, who they say has no solid conservative judicial record and who in the late 1980s donated $1,000 each to the Democratic National Committee, Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, and then Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, a Texas Democrat.
"Frankly, I'm stunned–and from the E-mails I'm getting, that's the reaction all over the country," said Manuel Miranda of the Third Branch Conference, a large coalition of culturally conservative Republicans. "This is not about Harriet Miers; it is about whether the president heard the people who voted for him who said they wanted someone with a record like Justice Antonin Scalia, a record like Justice Clarence Thomas."
Miranda predicted that the fragile conservative coalition that had held together through the Roberts nomination will likely fracture, though he said he expected that Miers will be approved in the Senate on an up-or-down vote with no filibuster by Democrats. Her nomination, he said, leaves Democrats with little to fight.
On the issue of Roe v. Wade, however, conservatives who support Miers note that when she was active in the American Bar Association, she worked–unsuccessfully, as it turned out–to have the organization rescind its endorsement of both abortion on demand and federal funding for abortions.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist lauded Miers as an outstanding choice, and Leonard Leo, on leave from the Federalist Society to help the administration secure approval for its judicial nominees, seemed to be working to placate the far right in the party by insisting during a conference call that Miers has a commitment to a "conservative judicial philosophy" and is "devoted to the Constitution as it's written."
"I think the president made a very brilliant pick," he said.
Democrats and liberal activists held their fire.
"It is too early to reach any firm judgment about such an important nomination," said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who is the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings this fall on Miers's nomination. "It is important to know whether she would enter this key post with the judicial independence necessary when the Supreme Court considers issues of interest to this administration."
Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and also a member of the committee, said Miers has had an "impressive career as a lawyer. She has helped break new ground for women attorneys in Texas," adding: "Because Ms. Miers has not taken public positions on many important legal and constitutional issues, the Senate confirmation hearings will be particularly important." Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said the high court would benefit from a justice with experience as a practicing lawyer, and the Associated Press reported that Reid had earlier suggested to the White House that it consider Miers. Bush said 80 senators were consulted before Miers's nomination was announced.
Ralph Neas of the progressive People for the American Way, and a veteran of many Supreme Court battles, said that without past judicial experience for senators to consider, Miers will bear the burden of outlining her judicial philosophy and providing direct answers to questions "about how–and whether–she will uphold fundamental rights, liberties, and legal protections on which Americans rely."
In her comments, Miers, who is single and has no children, said: "It is the responsibility of every generation to be true to the founders' vision of the proper role of the courts in our society. If confirmed, I will have a tremendous responsibility to keep our judicial system strong and help ensure that the courts meet their obligation to strictly apply the law and the Constitution."
After she undergoes a thorough background check, Miers will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for hearings. The committee will then vote on whether to recommend her nomination for a full Senate vote. The process is expected to continue into December. Justice O'Connor will serve on the high court until her replacement is confirmed.