Saturday, October 08, 2005

More on Miers: from the right

George Will drops these tidbits on the Miers nomination:
It is not important that she be confirmed because there is no evidence that she is among the leading lights of American jurisprudence, or that she possesses talents commensurate with the Supreme Court's tasks. The president's "argument" for her amounts to: Trust me. There is no reason to, for several reasons.

He has neither the inclination nor the ability to make sophisticated judgments about competing approaches to construing the Constitution. Few presidents acquire such abilities in the course of their pre-presidential careers, and this president particularly is not disposed to such reflections.

Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that Miers's nomination resulted from the president's careful consultation with people capable of such judgments. If 100 such people had been asked to list 100 individuals who have given evidence of the reflectiveness and excellence requisite in a justice, Miers's name probably would not have appeared in any of the 10,000 places on those lists.

It is important that Miers not be confirmed unless, in her 61st year, she suddenly and unexpectedly is found to have hitherto undisclosed interests and talents pertinent to the court's role. Otherwise the sound principle of substantial deference to a president's choice of judicial nominees will dissolve into a rationalization for senatorial abdication of the duty to hold presidents to some standards of seriousness that will prevent them from reducing the Supreme Court to a private plaything useful for fulfilling whims on behalf of friends.
Ouch. Better watch that base, Mr. President.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Most definitely a crony. Again, if she did not work for Bush, she would be unqualified. Dems only like her because Conservatives are bashing her. The fact that Harry Reid endorsed her should cause Republican senators to vote against Miers. What a waste of a pick.

October 09, 2005 11:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You should have some ice cream, 'cause you need to chill. If Bush had "satisfied" his conservative base and nominated a "true" conservative, Dems would have filibustered the nomination. Think about how long it took to get some of the current judges on the DC Circuit through - 3 years? 4 years? Longer? Face reality.

October 10, 2005 9:45 PM  

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