ConfirmThem

By Carol Platt Liebau Posted in SCOTUS — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

So President Bush has nominated Harriet Miers to serve as the replacement for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Predictably, and perhaps understandably, conservatives aren't thrilled. Very predictably, liberals appear to be picking at the nomination ("cronyism"), too.

Don't get me wrong -- I would have preferred a Luttig, McConnell, Jones pick. And superficially, it seems as though the President (1) gave into gender politics and (2) chose someone with the express intent of avoiding a protracted nomination fight (in contrast to Reagan, who may have ended up with Kennedy -- but tried for Bork and Ginsburg first).

But the fact is that the President has known Ms. Miers for a long time, and well. There's no reason to believe that he is any less committed than any of us to seeing judges on the bench who understand the proper role of the Court, with a strict constructionist judicial philosophy. And he had to know that the "cronyism" charge would accompany a Miers nomination, and yet felt as though she was good enough to be worth the trouble.

It's hard, because unlike the Reagan White House papers of John Roberts, this nomination gives us hardly any tea leaves to read. We'll just have to wait and see.