Bush Promotes From Within - Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court

Following the pattern of his administration President Bush has promoted from within - within his network of friends and cronies. This time he has nominated Harriet Miers to Supreme Court for fill the position opening with Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement. Who is Harriet Miers? Well, she is a long time friend and confident of George Bush. In the broadcast statement from the Oval Office, Bush said he has known Miers for over ten years and he "knows her heart." I guess that was to assure those loyal evangelicals who continue to support him.

Miers has never served as a judge, but she is an attorney. Currently she is Chief Counsel to the President. She replaced Alberto Gonzalez when he moved to head the Department of Justice. Prior to that move, Miers was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy for the White House - a position held by Joshua Bolten (not to be confused with John Bolton), who Bush appointed to be Director of the OMB.

Another sound bite meant to reassure those uber conservatives who were demanding a strict constructionist for the Supreme Court position was Miers stated :""It is the responsibility of every generation to be true to the founders' vision of the proper role of the courts in our society."

Like many of Bush's closest friends, Miers hails from Texas. Some had thought Gonzalez might be on the list, but their were concern he wasn't "ready" yet. At least that was what was claimed when Roberts was first nominated to the O'Connor vacancy. One assume that lack of "readiness" was in part that he had not judicial experience. Well, readiness must have meant something else as Miers also has no judicial experience. This could make the hearings on her nomination interesting. However the Roberts hearings certainly trained folks to stay in the world of the hypothetical and ambiguous.

Bush certainly wants to get O'Connor off the bench before the Court hears the cases that are on the docket. At the top of the list is Oregon's Assisted Suicide law followed by: religious use of proscribed substances, banning military recruiters from universities; parental notification of a daughter's decision to abort a fetus; what limits there should be on abortion protesters at clinics; Miranda Rights; standards for the use of DNA evidence can be used to overturn a death penalty; etc.

While O'Connor has been portrayed as a voice of reason and "swing vote" on the Court, it is clear that is not what Bush (nor the conservatives) want from a judge. Therefore one assumes that Bush's "knowing" of Miers "heart" includes a fair degree of confidence which way she will go on the cases on the docket. That is not reassuring at all.