ConfirmThem

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

Knight-Ridder reports:

Harriet Miers, President Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court, quickly developed a deep and almost gushing admiration for her boss from her earliest days in Texas government.

"You are the best governor ever - deserving of great respect!" she wrote in 1997, in a belated birthday note that was typical of the tone she used in her correspondence with then-Gov. Bush....Miers oozes with deference and awe in her letters to Bush. In a 1995 note, she thanked Bush for a visit and called a ride in a plane with him "Cool!" When she wrote Bush a thank-you note for meeting with a lottery job applicant in 1997, she wrote, "You are the best!"

Some more gushing can be found here. Anyway, as mentioned previously, I expect to remain on the fence until the hearings. There's lots of company up here. Everyone should try to keep an open mind.

In other news about the Miers nomination, Evan Thomas and Jonathan Darman conclude their recent report in Newsweek like so:

The core reason the Framers gave the Senate the power of "advice and consent" on judicial nominees was to provide "a check upon a spirit of favoritism in the president," wrote Alexander Hamilton. At her confirmation hearings, Miers would be well advised to show at least a hint of independence from the man she has so faithfully served.

In other words, no gushing. Meanwhile, it seems that Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit is singing the same tune as Vermont Senator Pat Leahy. Reynolds writes:

[T]here are good reasons why the path from White House Counsel to Supreme Court Justice isn't a well-trodden one, and there are more good reasons why it probably shouldn't become well-trodden.

Leahy put some similar thoughts on the record:

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Democratic co-chair of the committee, told ABC that he had recommended to the president that he "pick somebody outside the judicial monastery" but that he probably should have added: "And also consider somebody outside the White House compound."

None of this looks very good. However, I still hold out hopes that the nominee will show up at her hearings, condemn substantive due process and super stare decisis, and go on to become a great Supreme Court Justice. It could happen.