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Yet Another View on Harriet Miers

By Jeralyn, Section Harriet Miers
Posted on Sat Oct 08, 2005 at 12:37:19 PM EST
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Deepak Chopra, writing at Huffington Post, says Justice Grows to the Left. On Harriet Miers, he makes this excellent point:

In Ms. Miers we seem to have someone who is a blank slate, but whose private inclinations are tolerant, cautious, compassionate to the underprivileged, and politically flexible. On the surface her nomination is unfair, in that she seems to have a private agreement on ideology with the President and no public trail; therefore, she is immune to being examined. Matters are made worse by Pres. Bush's wink-and-a-nod comments implying that she has her marching orders and will be a loyal foot soldier. That demeans both Ms. Miers and the Court itself.

If indeed her flaw is rigid loyalty to the right wing, we are no worse off than if the President had nominated another Scalia. But if Miers grows to the left, which is to say, if she begins to empathize with America's vast, diverse population instead of the rich white males who have determined her fate so far, the country will be well served by her.

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    Yet Another View on Harriet Miers | 33 comments (33 topical)
    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#1)
    by Andreas on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    If ... if ... if ...

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    The reason I am supportive of Miers is threefold, and Chopak hit of them. Specifically, as a practicing trial lawyer who has done a fair amount captial post-conviction work over the years I know the records of most of those who were on the short list, she is the least scary. Second, from what I have heard from her work with legal services (a right winger working to help sure up legal services) and with "rentry" programs she appears to be an O'Connor who is an evangelical instead of a catholical. Finally, and my last reason for supporting her, as a born-again (like Messrs. Carter & Clinton) I would greatly like to see one of our own number on the Court so everyone can see that we don't all where hoods & burn-crosses & that we are capable of something more than mouth-breathing. - karl (I also hope that her nomination means that Dave Souter has someone to date).

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    Forgive that last post's typos, especially talking about being a mouth breather after posting "where" instead of "wear."

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#4)
    by Lww on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    I'd like to know how people of your ilk TL, have aquired this deep-seated hatred of white males? How can you reconcile it with your indignation when other people are slandered with the same broad brush you use. For someone of your so-called "progressive" beliefs to speak the way you do shows me that you're more intolerant than the people you attack as racist, bigoted etc...

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#6)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    LWW-Let me guess, you are a white male who is terribly oppressed. Did you just get rejected from the country club?

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    "if Miers grows to the left, which is to say, if she begins to empathize with America's vast, diverse population instead of the rich white males who have determined her fate so far, the country will be well served by her." Well, Deepak can hope... But I am reminded of what Woody Allen wrote about hope: 'Emily Dickinson says that "hope is the thing with feathers." 'No, that's my cousin. I must take him to see a specialist in Zurich.'

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    "LWW-Let me guess, you are a white male who is terribly oppressed. Did you just get rejected from the country club?" It is reverse sexism. Just like we have reverse racism. There is a reason it exists - as a reaction to something that is prevalent across our subcultures. It exists - in this context - due to years of inequities inflicted by White Males in our leadership - both public and private. Another flaw in his commentary is that it is unnecessarily reductive. The argument that Mier's nomination should trouble Progressives is strong enough without the need to include the sweeping inference that all White Males are insensitive to the needs of America. If you make the mistake of doing that, you leave yourself open to the opportunistic attack LWW just demonstrated. It doesn't matter if LWW is a White Male or not, if he/she subscribes to Conservatism - an inherently EXCLUSIVE ideology - you allow him/her the opportunity to (logically) render your argument hypocritical. Progressivism requires intellectual honesty and consistency of thought. That is why it is simpler to be an insensitive Conservative f***.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#9)
    by Patriot Daily on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    For me, there are 3 issues with Miers: (1) Ideology is important, but unless she is an extremist, it alone is insufficient to stop her nomination. A sitting president obviously has a right to select a nominee that reflects his/her ideology. I would love for her to be a candidate of liberal ideology, but truth is the issue of what pool our next US Supreme Court justices should be picked from, liberal or conservative, was a primary issue the past 2 elections, and the voters blew it off. So, now we have buyers' remorse, maybe next time people will actually vote on substantive issues instead of cultural war diversions. (2) My primary objection with Miers is that no sitting president should pick a nominee who simply moves her law office from the White House to the Supreme Court. As Bush's personal and White House counsel for the past years, will she recuse herself from cases where there is a conflict? Or, will she continue to be the president's lawyer on the court? (3) My other objection, which may be quieted at her hearings, is I fear a dumbing down of the standards for Supreme Court justices. I don't care about which law school she attended, but the Supreme Court is supposed to be the end highlight to a distinguished career. Not having been a judge is also troublesome, only because a good mix of judicial and lawyer experiences is more likely to give us opinions that are not just academic but also pragmatic. That is, opinions that mesh with the facts and reality rather than just theory.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    I'm sorry. Deepak Chopra? (I grew up in Berkeley and my woo-woo alarm goes off whenever I hear his name.) And yo, wingnuts who think TL is reversely racist... you know perfectly well she isn't racist. "Rich white males" is code for Bush, Cheney, DeLay, and all those other "leaders" who, if you're at all honest, are very out of touch with the needs of most people in this very diverse country. Mind you, I can't say I'd describe Bush as racist either. But his policies and actions have been so harmful to this country, it seems moot. But hey, it's easier to play the race card then to look honestly at what your "leaders" have done. (And hey, you went and missed a perfectly good opportunity to make fun of Deepak Chopra!) What does this have to do with Harriet Miers? Nothing.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    Rudyard Kipling If If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on"; If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#12)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    Nice poem... Here's one for you Gently... ...There is a road, no simple highway

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    DPac is right: if the choice is between a pliable mediocrity like Miers and distinguished ideologue like Scalia, you'd be crazy not to opt for Miers (unless of course you share Scalia's radical judicial philosophy). More likely, the alternative to Miers would be even more stark: i.e., a kooky, undistinguished radical like Janice Rogers Brown.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    what makes the left think the vast majority of the country supports its viewpoint and views? it can't be electoral returns. hatred of country, contempt for religion(the Salvation Army was there for the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina, the ACLU appears a month later to sue on behalf of jail inmates-there is the left in a nutshell), inability to face the fact that its policies have failed.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    Harriet E. Miers Helped Bring Feminist Speakers to Southern Methodist

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    Nice song, Edgar. KTH, Speaking from my little space, somewhere on the left, I don't think for a minute that the vast majority supports my viewpoint and views, but I still believe in them. So much so, that I think the right is totally full of s**t. But there's nothing I can do about it. I voted, but my candidates lost the last 6-7 elections, so all I can do is come to TalkLeft and complain. But I still believe what I believe.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#17)
    by roger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    Guitar, Still keep fighting for what you believe. We always get mad at our conscience for making us feel guilty. Dont ever give up.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    guitar, i think you mistook me for charley charley: what DPac was saying is that the vast majority of the country is harmed by being governed by Republicans. We are less prosperous, less safe, and less civilized. There is not a single aspect of American life which has not gotten worse since Republicans consolidated their control of government.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    After Deepak finishes eating his MILLIONAIRE stew tonight, he can come by and teach my cat to read Portuguese so he can get that job as Ambassador that Bush offered him. If he wants to help America with his musings, that is, which is HILARIOUS. What is the sound of one millionaire clapping? Simple fact is that Bush is several impeachments short of being an American president, and no amount of crystal ball from the Enlightened Mr. Deep Pockets gets us any closer to REALITY, which is currently biting the rest of us in the arse. I'm sure Mr. Deep Pockets has LOVED his tax breaks. The idea that he is in love with liberalism is another untested hope. He likes his money. That's the main counterpoint he ignores in his weird idea that somehow a total closet ideologue like Miers is going to suddenly sprout a conscience that doesn't Ring Jesus on the quarter hour to ask him which country to attack next.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    I wish I felt as optimistic as Chopra... But I have a feeling it's just not that simple

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#21)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    test

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:49 PM EST
    PILA, anti-Catholic sentiment was such in 1956 when my parents got married that some of my paternal Texas-born Baptist part of the family didn't object to my mom because she had some Chinese ancestry so much as they did to the fact that she was Catholic. Of course, once they found out that despite 10+ years of education in Catholic institutions she wasn't an unthinking minion of the Pope, they became less worried, and the fact that after JFK's election the country wasn't turned over to the Pope(which was the fear behind Al Smiths' defeat in 1928) helped matters as well. It's amusing to not that there were ponographic works circulated during the time of the Know-Nothings and afterwards that were anti-clerical as well, and used to accuse priests of being baby-killers amoung other things.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    If she assists in DNA testing for all convicted felons her nomination will be a success.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#24)
    by Andreas on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    The WSWS has a different view:
    There are undoubtedly concerns in the most powerful sections of the ruling elite that to pack the court with right-wing ideologues promoting the agenda of the Christian fundamentalists would permanently discredit this institution in the eyes of the masses and undermine its authority in future political conflicts. The Miers nomination, however, undermines the court in a different way, by elevating to the highest judicial office an individual who is a creature and political crony of the president. (One Republican critic of Miers’ nomination, former White House speechwriter David Frum, reported that Miers had once told him George W. Bush was “the most brilliant man she had ever met.”) The selection of a personal retainer to fill a lifetime position on the US Supreme Court is virtually unprecedented.
    [Note: Quoted portion shortened] Bush picks right-wing crony for Supreme Court By Patrick Martin, 5 October 2005

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#25)
    by ras on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Miers is still winning R converts, albeit at a lesser rate now, the easiest having already converted, and the remaining oppo vocal. But the D strategy of hoping/encouraging R's to take down the nominee for them - Evangelical, personal lawyer to Bush, vociferously anti-abortion, and in favor of criminalizing gay sex - is failing. She's gonna march toward confirmation. And as more is learned, the Left's base is gonna be mondo ticked at their leadership, first for recommending her, and second for trying to downplay just how conservative/constructionist she really is. Think about it, guys. If Bush wanted an easy-to-confirm moderate, he'd'a gone with, say, Edith Clement or some such candidate. No muss, no fuss. But Read messed up and Bush pounced on the mistake. Rebut if you like, but it doesn't matter; the facts will out. Hooray for Harriet! Hooray for Harriet! (join in, gang!) Hooray for Harriet!

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    More RAS fantasies. "She's going to march toward confirmation." Nevermind the absurdity of nominations to the bench in the absence of IMPEACHMENT RIGHTS. No impeachment rights, no Constitution, no Court. "Reid messed up." The minority leader stepped out of the way, and, here's a newsflash, the Democrats are not the Left, you idiot. Democrats are not leftists. Bush "pounced." Yeah, that Bushie is a real active president, with his 350 days of official vacation. He POUNCED. He diddled and fiddled while citizens died from lack of water and ice. He stuck his finger up his nose while Osama Bin Laden attacked America. He played with his Jeff Guckert male whore while men went off to fight in a fake war. He's a real tigerlike predator, pouncing on every possibility of taking food out of other people's mouths, to feed his fat arse. He's a hippo, and you, ras, get to scrub his balls. Watch out for the teeth.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Most likely ras has no basis, beyond his obvious starry-eyed Bush worship, for his belief that Miers is a radical extremist of the Bork/Scalia mold. But if such a basis exists, then whoever can shed light on it must be sworn in and made to tell, under penalty of perjury, just what assurances have been made.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#28)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    ras: But Read messed up and Bush pounced on the mistake. Rebut if you like, but it doesn't matter; the facts will out.
    "We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." —George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005


    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#29)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    I'd like to know how people of your ilk TL, have aquired this deep-seated hatred of white males?
    i've read this post multiple times LWW, and i still haven't a clue what the heck you're babbling on about. nor, i suspect, do you. do you twitter on so just to hear yourself write? hmmmm, miers or scalia, tough call there. oh, wait, scalia's already on the SC! so, um, there's no choice to be made. exactly what was deepak chopra's point? i read that drivel numerous times, time that i will not be able to get back. as is usual with mr. chopra, he clouds his deep shallowness with.............more shallowness. the man hasn't had a point since the last time he sharpened his pencil in elementary school! the astonishing thing is that anyone takes that ninny seriously. he must chortle all the way to the bank, i would.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    All Writs wrote: "my last reason for supporting her, as a born-again (like Messrs. Carter & Clinton) I would greatly like to see one of our own number on the Court so everyone can see that we don't all where (sic) hoods & burn-crosses..." You have Clarence Thomas... and that's too much as it is. Your own number, as you call them, makes a celebrated, extravagant point of elevating the Bible above the Constitution in authority. To even think that way is a disqualification for the position. Period.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Spoiled ninny lightweight Chopra's line of attempted persuasion reduces to something like "hey, for a fat girl she doesn't sweat much." Yes, it is important that the nominee is not an obvious and well-known fire-breathing theocrat (whether that is Scalia or not is not my concern here)... but Miers may indeed be all of that and worse, but be really good at keeping her mouth shut and her powder dry. We just don't know.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    She signed on to a COUP, you know. She is part of Bush's junta. That alone, with no other issues involved, DISQUALIFIES HER FOR A FAIR COURT THAT IS THE BALANCE OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH. TL's support of her is for reasons of professionalism, but where is the justice in further weakening our checks and balances. SHE'S HIS PERSONAL LAWYER. Having his five friends on the highest court put him into power, now he wants to insert his actual personal lawyer. That's not constitutional, and everyone above IQ of 50 must see that.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:51 PM EST
    SHE'S HIS PERSONAL LAWYER. Having his five friends on the highest court put him into power, now he wants to insert his actual personal lawyer.
    That's not constitutional, and everyone above IQ of 50 must see that.
    Actually, the Constitution does not even require that members of the High Court even be lawyers. He could nominate his personal psychic or even James Dobson, for that matter. The catch is that the Senate must approve the nomination.

    Re: Yet Another View on Harriet Miers (none / 0) (#34)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:51 PM EST
    Actually, the Constitution does not even require that members of the High Court even be lawyers.
    the constitution sets a pretty low bar to be president too.

    Yet Another View on Harriet Miers | 33 comments (33 topical)