The Left knows Miers is no Souter

Conservatives can rightly take issue with President Bush on a number of important items (Borders, Spending, Signing McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance “Reform,” Prescription Drug Bill, No Child Left Behind, Steel Tariffs, hanging out with Slick Willy, etc…) I voiced my dissapointment with Bush on these issues on our radio program this week.

On the social issues, however, Bush has been true to his word by defending traditional marriage, advocating a Constitutional Amendment to protect marraige similar to his predecessor Bill Clinton’s signing of DOMA, his twice signing bans on partial birth abortion, his support and advocacy for faith based organizations, and his staunch opposition to embryonic stem-cell research and cloning.

There is also very little reason not to trust President Bush that his nominations to the Federal bench will be anything other tha judges in the mold of “Scallia and Thomas” (originalists/New Federalists/ Strict Constructionists depending on one’s definition) Almost without exception this has been true of evey federal judicial court nominee during Bush’s 5 years as president.

I believe that Harriet Miers will fit the “Scallia/Thomas” mold and will strictly interpret the Constitution and help to restore a vital balance of power to a court which has all too often substituted personal preferences for narrowly interpreting the enumerated provisions of the Constitution.

The fact that Bush has known Miers for two decades alleviates any concerns I may otherwise have regarding her being a blank slate. I fundamentally trust Bush in that if he endorses her and has promised that all of his nominees would be of the “Scallia-Thomas” mold then I take him at his word. He is not a lot of things (including an effective advocate-salesman for his major initiatives and reforms) but he is a fundamentally decent and honest man. In this regard I believe that Miers shares Bush’s fealty to reforming the judiciary and to a strict construtionist interpretation of the Constitution.

One whould think the feminists would be her most vocal allies as Ms. Miers was the first female to serve as president of her 400 person law firm and was the first female to serve as President of the Texas Bar,not to mention winner of the “Sandra Day o’Conner Award” . Add to this impressive resume her serving as chief legal council to President Bush and it becomes difficult to criticize her professional jurisprudential accomplishments. I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for public endorsements from Patty Ireland, NARAL, or NOW.

Mark my words, what worries those on the left most is that Ms. Miers is stauchly 100% pro-life and is likely to cast a decisive vote to overturn Roe. They also worry about how a committed social Conservative Christian is likely to vote on similar activist rulings dealing with the commerce clause, the establishment clause, the takings clause, and the 2nd Amendment (rumor has it she also packs heat).

The usual suspects (Kennedy, Durbin, Shumer, Biden et al. ) who carry the pro-abotion organization’s water will oppose Mier’s nomination on the grounds of “cronyism,” “lack of judicial experience,” “lack of Ivy league credentials,” and too much of a “blank slate.”

But as much as they claim she is a “question mark,” they all know how she is likely to rule on Roe and this is the over-riding concern of the liberals in the Senate. I believe that the Dems will fillibuster Miers, because they know deep down that Bush has nominated somebody he is sure will vote to overturn Roe and similar unconstitutional activist rulings. It will get very ugly. I have no doubt.

For such an idiot president, Bush seems to be running cirles around the lefties who are too intensely preoccupied with seething rage and venom to act logically and reasonably which would- no doubt- enable them to get much further on a great many issues. This pick has Rove’s fingerprints all over it. I could be wrong on this one, but I doubt it. The best part is that with an aging Stevens and Ginsberg on the Court, Bush could very well get two more picks. Then if the libs want more “judicial experience,” Bush could send them Luttig, McConnell, or better yet Janice Rogers-Brown. I can’t wait. It’s gotta be depressing to be a liberal these days knowing that your lest vestige of hope for reshaping America into the socialist utopia you have always dreampt of (the judiciary) is slowly evaporating into thin air.

If anybody doubts the left’s perception of the Miers’ nomination, consider this letter from our friends at Moveon.org. I think they too know that Miers is no Souter, Kennedy, or O’Conner.

Dear MoveOn member,

This morning, President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. Miers is a long-time political appointee, campaign counsel, personal lawyer and Bush loyalist who has never served as a judge.

Ex-FEMA Director Michael Brown taught us that vital national positions must be filled with qualified candidates, not political friends with limited experience. With such a thin public record, how can Americans know Harriet Miers’ approach to critical issues like corporate power, privacy and civil rights?

Right now we urgently need more information, and we need your help to get it. In the next few hours the Internet will fill with facts, anecdotes and rumors about Harriet Miers. We need your help to sort through it all, select the relevant and important details, and let us know what you find�decentralized, grassroots research.

We’ve set up a simple web form where you can post facts and sources that will fill out the picture on what kind of Supreme Court justice Miers would be. We’ll get your research to the media, the Senate and our partner groups. This info will also be crucial in setting MoveOn’s course for this nomination. Even if you just have a few minutes to spare, it could help a lot at this crucial time.

You can post facts right now at:

http://www.political.moveon.org/judgefacts?id=6078-6365738-sMi4cvd5okeVTuQunmR9bg&t=3

Here is a quick chronology of Harriet Miers’ career, courtesy of the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary, to help jump start your research.

1970�Graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School
1970-1972�Clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Joe Estes
1972-2001�Joined Texas law firm, Locke, Purnell
1985�Elected president of the Dallas Bar Association
1986-1989�Member of the State Bar board of directors
1989-1991�Elected and served one term on the Dallas City Council
1992�Elected president of the Texas State Bar
1993-1994ââ?‰?Worked as counsel for Bush’s gubernatorial campaign
1995-2000�Appointed chairwoman of Texas Lottery Commission by Gov. George Bush
1996�Became president of Locke, Purnell, and the first woman to lead a major Texas law firm
1998�Presided over the merger of Locke, Purnell with another big Texas firm, Liddell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill & LaBoon, and became co-managing partner of the resulting megafirm, Locke Liddell & Sapp
2000�Represented Bush and Cheney in a lawsuit stemming from their dual residency in Texas while running in the Presidential primary
2001�Selected as staff secretary for President Bush
2003�Promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
2004�Selected as White House Counsel

There are many important questions that need to be addressed, including:

What policies did she advocate for on the Dallas City Council?
What was her record at the head of the scandal-ridden Texas Lottery Commission?
What cases did she take on while working as a corporate lawyer in private practice, and what positions did she fight for?
What has she written or said in and outside of her law practice about her views on constitutional issues like privacy, the “commerce clause” or equal protection
As White House councel Alberto Gonzales played a pivotal role in softening America’s stance on torture. What positions has Harriet Miers advocated for in the same role?
Has she ever publicly distanced herself from George W. Bush?
It’s important that we move quickly in answering these questions. The Bush spin machine has been prepared for this nomination for some time and is already cranking at full speed. The strategy is to move Miers through as an enigma. We need to make sure the facts about her views are known.

This kind of decentralized research may never have been tried before at this scale. But a Supreme Court nominee with a record only the president really knows is a new national challenge. If we act quickly, we can meet that challenge together.

Please pitch in by taking some time to research today, and post what you find at:

http://www.political.moveon.org/judgefacts?id=6078-6365738-sMi4cvd5okeVTuQunmR9bg&t=4

Thanks for all that you do,

ââ?¬â??Ben, Marika, Rosalyn, Joan and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Monday, October 3rd, 2005

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION

See also the American Thinker entitled “Don’t Misunderestimate Miers,” by editor and publisher Thomas Lifson for what I believe to be the best analysis I have yet to read on this topic.