Stealth II - No Paper Trail

I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'll quote Pat Buchanan, who was rather articulate in criticizing Bush's choice for the Supreme Court:

What does it tell us that White House, in selling her to the party and press, is pointing out that Miers “has no paper trial.” What does that mean, other than that she is not a Rehnquist, a Bork, a Scalia or a Thomas?

Conservative cherish justices and judges who have paper trails. For that means these men and women have articulated and defended their convictions. They have written in magazines and law journals about what is wrong with the courts and how to make it right. They had stood up to the prevailing winds. They have argued for the Constitution as the firm and fixed document the Founding Fathers wrote, not some thing of wax.

A paper trail is the mark of a lawyer, a scholar or a judge who has shared the action and passion of his or her time, taken a stand on the great questions, accepted public abuse for articulating convictions.

Miers would be the first non-judge appointed to the Court since the recently departed William Rehnquist was nominated from Nixon's Justice Department.