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Differing Views on Harriet Miers

By Jeralyn, Section Harriet Miers
Posted on Fri Oct 07, 2005 at 01:19:09 PM EST
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Eric Muller at Is That Legal goes negative on Miers as a result of the RNC conference call I mentioned yesterday. Armando at Daily Kos says Eric makes some good points. The telephone conference was spin (not fact) by Republicans to garner support amongst their own for Miers. I think we should let Ms. Miers speak for herself at the confirmation hearings before deciding whether to support or oppose her nomination.

I prefer Law Prof Marci Hamilton's take - that all indications are that she's a centrist in the mold that George Bush used to be before the radical right got ahold of him. And that she'll stay that way.

As to what kind of judge she would be, Professor Hamilton writes:

In any event, she is clearly not an ideologue who has devoted her life to the goal of overturning Roe....What will happen if (and when) Miers's personal independence is combined with the independence of the judiciary? I think one can expect that she will not follow political guidelines, but rather, keep her own counsel and make her own, independent decisions. One can only wait in tense anticipation to see what Senator Santorum will have to say about having such a woman on the Supreme Court!

Miers also shares Justice O'Connor's experiences of being the "first woman" in a number of circumstances. She is at the tail-end of the generation that envisioned women in high positions of power, and worked hard to push through barriers. As with Justice O'Connor and Justice Ginsburg, Miers is likely to be very impatient with any attempt to argue there was no meaningful gender discrimination in the past, that there should be no heightened constitutional scrutiny in cases of gender discrimination, or that diversity is unimportant.

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    • Differing Views on Harriet Miers | 7 comments (7 topical)
    Re: Differing Views on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    RNC conference call, I think.

    Re: Differing Views on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    President Bush has tried to reassure anxious conservatives over his choice of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, testifying to her good character by saying " I know her heart. I know what she believes." They are not buying it. Sadly, President Bush's conservative allies are just now learning what the rest of us have known for years... For the full story, see: "George W. Bush: No Judge of Character"

    Re: Differing Views on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    Thanks, I fixed it.

    Re: Differing Views on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#4)
    by Peter G on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    FWIW, I know Marci Hamilton to be very smart, very fairminded, and generally a moderate conservative. Her academic writing is a no-spin zone.

    Re: Differing Views on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    Ms. Hamilton is also the TL kid's professor for Constitutional Law this semester and he just raves about how smart and interesting she is. And he's at least as liberal as I am.

    Re: Differing Views on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#6)
    by wg on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    Hamilton sees a full circle here - Bush a pragmatist and a centrist in 2000, war monger, neo-con lackey and a religious nut in early 2000s, rediscovering his innate centrist self when faced with the grave responsibility of naming two people to the SC in 2004. Fallacy, imho. To begin: .. Then (2000), Bush looked like a pragmatist and a centrist... That's not my recollection, he looked troublingly incompetent for the job in 2000, on many levels, intellectually, grammatically, leadership-wise or simply not even being serious enough. Remember SNL sketches from that time (memorable Will Ferrell), or Letterman's Top Ten? Or editorial pages from that era? Cheney and the company was already seen as the real face of the incoming administration, and few would consider him centrist. It was quite clear to most everybody that right wing, religious and otherwise and neo-cons would be running things under Bush. They were quite vocal about it. She follows: ...Given his business and oil experiences before politics, it seemed he'd also work hard to foster a free market... Given his business and oil experiences, it seems he would think hard work and competence was highly overrated and would act accordingly, is more like it. This strips the initial spoke in Hamiltons's full circle. The final one is equally dubious. The initial rumblings from the court (Roberts/Oregon assisted suicide) are not too encouraging, and way too little is known about Miers to draw any conclusions. Bypassing wingnut judges is to Bush's credit but I suspect this is more due to him growing somewhat cantankerous in his older years than to reverting to his old self.

    Re: Differing Views on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#7)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:47 PM EST
    george bush a centrist? in what alternate reality? perhaps when he was 6 years old, though i doubt that. mr. bush has been troubelingly incompetent for every job he's ever held, the presidency is just his latest display of ineptitude, on a grander stage than his governorship and failed stints in the private sector. millard fillmore is looking pretty darn good by comparison.

    Differing Views on Harriet Miers | 7 comments (7 topical)