One Down And One To Go
Conservatives got Miers to withdraw. Now they want a nominee of their own
Qualified. Bush is expected to act quickly--a nominee could be named early this week--and he'll probably choose from candidates already vetted in the process that led to the Miers nomination and that of Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Among those being mentioned as potential successors to Sandra Day O'Connor are conservative Appeals Court Judges Samuel Alito Jr., 55, Michael Luttig, 51, Karen J. Williams, 54, Michael McConnell, 50, and Janice Rogers Brown, 56.
Insiders say the president may not feel compelled to name a female to replace O'Connor, the first woman on the high court and one of two now serving. "The key," says Sean Rushton, executive director of the Committee for Justice, which works with the White House to promote its judicial nominees, "is to go back and get somebody with great qualifications and a clear adherence to the president's stated philosophy" without regard to gender.
In Washington, there is palpable sympathy for Miers, who broke barriers as a respected corporate lawyer in Texas. "I feel sad for Harriet Miers. She really got battered and she didn't ask for this," Weyrich said. As one of Miers's supporters, lawyer Jay Sekulow, said ruefully, "Welcome to Washington."
But the past month may just be a prelude. "It seems to me that a bloody confrontation is quite likely," says Earl Maltz, a law professor at Rutgers University. "The administration almost has to name a person with well-established conservative credentials to satisfy its base, and the Democrats almost have to filibuster such a person to satisfy theirs." The Senate battle, now twice deferred, may finally be joined.
advertisement
