Harriet Miers, Qualified and Nominated but Underwhelming
President Bush has nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's seat. It certainly seems in character to pick someone he already trusts. I don't know enough about her to judge her qualifications or politics, but given that his first pick was Roberts, I'm inclined give him and the new nominee every benefit of the doubt, despite being underwhelmed on the face of the nomination. Yes, I can think of people I actually wanted to see on the Court, that's not the issue here.
Washington Post has a profile up; there's something positive to be said about any lawyer whose undergraduate degree was in mathematics. Lots of trial experience seems to be her denominator with Roberts; She seems well respected in the legal community and she has held public office before if not as a judge. Nonetheless, I'm not seeing reports on any respected legal writings of hers, leading me to believe she's nominated because the president trusts her to vote correctly rather than because she's going to be an influence on the other members of the court. I know I said that some of our best leaders come from out of nowhere, but when you examined their records there was something there beforehand. Maybe not something great, but something indicative. Needless to say, I regard this as settling for a C plus when you could have just as easily had an A. But I doubt the president will withdraw the nominations, and so the question on the table is confirm or refuse her nomination, to which there really is only one answer, as she does appear qualified.
More information at American Justice Partnership
Looking at other reactions around the 'sphere:
Todd Zywicki at Volokh Conspiracy thinks President Bush is simply trying to pick justices who "vote right" rather than changing the legal culture. I regard this as agreement in principle with what I said above. Since I was just going on the political angle, it's good to see someone with law credentials confirming my guess. Eugene Volokh sees more parallels with former Justices White and Powell than O'Connor.
Powerline is disappointed as well, and suspects that it was a political move. Could be, but I doubt it. The president and other Elephants are sitting in too good a position of strength unless they're going to get something that I don't think the Donkeys are willing to give. When you deal with a weaker opponent, you expect to get the better of any bargain and this just gives away too much.
Hugh Hewitt writes a very good defense of Ms. Miers, from a policial point of view. He makes some good points, but I can't help thinking that he's damning with faint praise, as I was hoping for a first class legal mind who happened to not be a liberal. As far as I can tell, Janice Rogers Brown might be a harder confirmation fight, but the fight would be more worth winning. Call me myopic; I do agree that the pundulum of power needs to swing away from the judicial branch but I don't think this will do anything worthwhile to accomplish that.
Strata-Sphere has some worthwhile thoughts, while calling out the Coalition of the Chillin'. Since they were right about the gang of 14, this lends a certain weight to the argument.
Beldar gives us better reasons to like her. I conceded that she was qualified before looking to the 'sphere, but she's still not exactly credentialed as a great legal mind. She apparently was picked for loyalty and because President Bush trusts her. Not the worst of reasons, but hardly the best.
Llama Butchers was ready for a knock-down drag out fight, and is disappointed by the pick. Maybe she is a stalking horse, but that scenario doesn't ring right to me.
Captain's Quarters, whose judgement I respect, is disappointed, and I understand why.
Professor Bainbridge is appalled, and gives seven good reasons. I'm not impressed by "true conservative" credentials, but given the judicial branch's left wing activism in the last forty years or so, I want something differentiated a little bit more from Ginsberg.
Red State goes so far as to say Miers is unqualified, thereby forfeiting any respect I might give the other parts of his opinion.
Michelle Malkin is completely underwhelmed (a thought with which I agree) and has a good round up.
Decision '08 has another good roundup of posts.
Random Fate says it looks like a crony appointment to him.
Countertop Chronicles has a Supreme Court Deathwatch, on the hope the president gets another chance soon.
One of the Washington Post Bloggers is reporting her past donations to Democrats.
Ezra Klein thinks she's an apparatchik.
Talk Left likes her, which I admit makes me nervous.
Eschaton is doing the happy dance.
DU is as rational as ever.
Harriet Miers has a blog? Okay, somebody has put up a somewhat amusing variation a la Huffington's Toast.
Categories
Politicsblog advertising
--Blogads--
blog advertising --Blogads--
My Links
-
Heavy Lifters
- Instapundit
- Michelle Malkin
- Scrappleface
- Volokh Conspiracy
- Captain's Quarters
- Wizbang
- Victor Davis Hanson
- Eject! Eject! Eject!
- Michael Barone
- The Victory Caucus
- The Truth Laid Bear Places I get to as often as I can
- The Command Post
- Good News Central
- Icerocket
- Life Liberty Property
- MEMRI
- Raging RINO Community
- Technorati
- Transparency International
- Wide Awakes
- The Anchoress
- Argghhh! R
- Armies of Liberation R
- Asymmetrical Information
- Austin Bay
- Belmont Club
- Big Lizards
- Tim Blair
- Cox and Forkum
- Dr. Sanity
- Kevin Drum
- Gateway Pundit
- Hugh Hewitt
- Iraq the Model
- Jeff Jarvis
- Jihad Watch
- John Leo
- Lileks Screed
- Little Green Footballs
- Josh Marshall
- Mudville Gazette
- Neo-neocon
- WSJ OpinionJournal
- Politburo Diktat R
- Powerline
- Powerline News
- Protein Wisdom
- Q and O L
- Real Clear Politics
- Mark Steyn
- Stop the ACLU
- Strategy Page
- Don Surber R
- Vodkapundit
- Watching America
- Matthew Yglesias
- Michael Yon Personal Finance, Economics and Business Sites
- Bloodhound Blog
- Consumerism Commentary
- Eidelblog L
- The Entrepreneurial Mind
- Finance Blog
- Financial Rounds
- Free Money Financea>
- In Cash Flow We Trust
- I Will Teach You To Be Rich
- Mortgage Fraud Blog
- No Credit Needed
- Old Niu's Blog
- Pacesetter Mortgage Blog
- Personal Finance Advice
- pfblogs.org
- Social Security Choice
- Students for Saving Social Security Other sites I've linked and visit
- Accuracy In Media
- Ace of Spades
- The Agitator
- All Things Jennifer R
- Ann Althouse
- American Citizen Soldier
- The Anarchangel L
- Angry in the Great White North L
- Antigravitas L
- The Anti Idiotarian Rottweiler
- Art of the Blog R
- Atlas Shrugs
- aTypical Joe R
- Professor Bainbridge R
- Baldilocks
- Barcepundit
- Beldar
- Belgravia Dispatch
- Below The Beltway L
- Blackfive
- The Buck Stops Here
- Catallarchy L
- Chapomatic
- Chequer-Board of Nights & Days
- Clarity and Resolve
- Classical Values R
- Combs Spouts Off L
- Common Sense and Wonder
- The Counterterrorism Blog
- Countertop Chronicles R
- Coyote Blog
- Daily Howler
- Daily Pundit R
- David's Medienkritic
- Dean's World R
- Decision '08 R
- De Doc L
- Brad DeLong
- Democratic Peace
- Different River
- Digger's Realm R
- Done With Mirrors R
- Drink This
- Drudge Report
- DUmmie FUnnies
- enrevanche R
- Eschaton
- Evolution R
- Fearless Philosophy L
- Forward Biased L
- Generation Why?"
- Happycrow's Eyeball Factory L
- Hold The Mayo L
- Huffington Post
- The Idiom
- IMAO
- INCITE L
- INDC Journal R
- Inside Larry's Head R
- Inoperable Terran
- Iowahawk
- It Comes In Pints?"
- The Jawa Report R
- Just One Minute
- Justus for All R
- Kausfiles
- Ezra Klein
- Daily Kos
- La Shawn Barber
- Liberals Against Terrorism
- Libercontrarian RL
- Libertarian Leanings R
- Liberty Papers
- Carol Platt Liebau
- Llama Butchers R
- Mensa Barbie
- The Moderate Voice
- Mossback Culture R
- Mover Mike L
- Mr. Completely L
- National Review Online
- No Angst Zone L
- Normblog
- Brendan Nyhan
- Ogre's Politics & Views L
- One Fine Jay R
- Owlish Mutterings L
- Patterico's Pontifications
- Peter Porcupine L
- Bradford Plumer
- Pole Dancing In The Dark L
- Political Calculations
- POV R
- Publius Pundit
- Radio Equalizer
- Reasoned Audacity
- Respectful Insolence R
- Rhymes with Right L
- Riehl World View
- Right Place
- Right Reason
- Right Thoughts R
- Right Wing Death Beast
- Right Wing Nut House
- ROFASix
- Samizdata
- Say Uncle RL
- Debbie Schlussel
- SCOTUS Blog
- Roger L. Simon
- The Strata-Sphere R
- TacJammer
- TalkLeft
- TAPPED
- Target Centermass L
- Technography R"
- Tempus Fugit
- Texas Best Grok L
- Tigerhawk
- Link Text
- Tinkerty-Tonk R
- Tom Rants RL
- Unalienable Right
- Uncommon Insanity L
- Unrepentant Individual L
- Villainous Company
- Oliver Willis
- Willisms
- The World According to Nick R
- World Wide Rant R Link Exchanges, etcetera
- But That's Just My Opinion
- Condo Buzz NYC
- Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns
- DANEgerus R
- A Dollop of Sour Cream
- Dust My Broom L
- Generic Confusion R
- Grim's Hall
- Heartless Libertarian L
- individ L
- Kesher Talk R
- Leaning Toward The Dark Side R
- Libertopia L
- Liberty Corner L
- Medary L
- Mondo QT L
- Nose On Your Face R
- Pererro R
- Pratie Place
- Random Fate R
- Ravings of John C. A. Bambanek L
- Signifying Nothing R
- The Skwib L
- Tel-Chai Nation
- TF Sterns Rantings L
- DC Thornton R
- Wake Me Up On Judgement Day R
- Windypundit L Consumer and Research Sites
- Better Business Bureau
- Consumer Reports
- NASD Home
- California Department of Real Estate
- California Licensee Lookup
- California Department of Insurance
- National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
- Do Not Call Homepage
- IRS Charities Search
- Internet Fraud Complaint Center
- SEC Home Page
- Stop Mortgage Fraud
- Report Mortgage Fraud Debunking Many so-called Real Estate Gurus
- John T. Reed Other research
- FactCheck.org
- Babel Fish Translation
- Snopes Worthwhile Web Comics
- Sluggy Freelance
- Day by Day
- User Friendly
- Kevin and Kell It is site policy to list the main page of every site I reference. Sometimes the real world intervenes and I haven't gotten to it yet, or one falls through the cracks on a long post with multiple references. It is also site policy to list the main page of every site that lists this one on their equivalent roll, as well as the main page of all sites that are members of any of the same groups this site is a member of. Please send me an email with a link to the main page of your site if I've overlooked you (dm at the domain name). For the clue-challenged, note that it is a requirement for your link to appear on every page of your site, just like mine does, and I will not link to spam sites. Honor Roll of Sites Banned by Paranoid Repressive Governments: (be the first on your block to submit a link!)
Requests for reprint rights, contact dm (at) searchlightcrusade (dot) net! Subscribe to Searchlight Crusade
C'mon! I need to pay for this website! If you want to buy or sell Real Estate in San Diego County, or get a loan anywhere in California, contact me! I cover San Diego County in person and all of California via internet, phone, fax, and overnight mail.
**********
Contact me! dm (at) searchlight crusade (dot) net (Eliminate the spaces and change parentheticals to the symbols, of course)
Leave a comment