ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

George Will says that we should all presume Harriet Miers is unfit to be approved by the Senate. At least Will's willing to hear what she says at the hearings.

But consider whether Will's column itself deserves a presumption of approval. He says that, if 100 people had been asked their advice, Miers' name probably would not have appeared on the list. Funny, Bush did consult with 100 people --- called Senators --- and that's where he got the idea to nominate Miers. Anyone listening to the complaints from Mr. Will should keep in mind the huge role that Mr. Will himself played in giving the Senate minority a veto over nominations. See here.

Before going any farther, I want to emphasize that I'll be withholding judgment until the hearings, and I have a good deal of respect for many of Mr. Will's writings. But he is wrong to ask for a presumption against Ms. Miers. If it turns out that she's a fan of substantive due process (unlike Scalia and Thomas), or is as obsessed with stare decisis as John Roberts appeared to be, then I may jump ship too, but it's way too early to expect that to happen.

Mr. Will asks us to be biased against Ms. Miers because the President signed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill .... which the Supreme Court subsequently held to be constitutional. I'm no fan of that bill, and I have my doubts about its constitutionality, but give me a break. Does Will present any information about where Ms. Miers stood on that issue? No.

Will ridiculously charges that Miers has no known interests and talents pertinent to the Court's role. As if being White House Legal Counsel is a blue collar job. And running a law firm and the Texas State Bar exempts a lawyer from the dictates of the U.S. Constitution.

Mr. Will says that the wisdom of presumptive opposition to Miers' confirmation flows from the fact that constitutional reasoning is a talent acquired by years of practice sustained by intense interest. We will see at the hearings if she possesses these. I suspect that several current Supreme Court justices do not.

Will also doesn't like the way Robert Jordan, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, spoke to Fox News about the Miers nomination, and Will accuses the White House of probably enlisting Jordan for advocacy. Sure, let's attribute one guy's remarks on Fox News to George Bush, and in turn attribute them to Harriet Miers, and thus kill her nomination. Will just seems to be in a bad mood.