[Mb-civic] From Miers, Telling Words - David Broder - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

 From Miers, Telling Words

By David S. Broder
Thursday, October 6, 2005; Page A27

The nomination of Harriet Miers as a replacement for swing-vote Justice 
Sandra Day O'Connor poses entirely different confirmation challenges to 
the Senate from those raised when President Bush chose John Roberts to 
be chief justice of the United States.

Roberts had a lengthy record of service in government, two years of 
judicial experience on the federal appellate bench and an incomparable 
set of credentials in academia and private practice. He was also 
replacing another conservative.

Miers enjoys similarly high standing with colleagues in the Dallas and 
Texas legal circles. But she has never judged a single case or argued a 
constitutional issue before the high court. Her one distinguishing 
characteristic is the trust she has earned from her most important 
client, George Bush.

The words the president used in his news conference Tuesday conveyed his 
deep admiration for the woman he employed as a private attorney, 
campaign adviser and, most recently, White House counsel. He spoke not 
only of her intellect but also of her character, of his confidence that 
she shares his "strict constructionist" judicial philosophy, and of his 
certainty that she will not change. She will have the "same philosophy 
20 years from now," he said.

Bush's words were clearly aimed at reassuring his conservative 
constituents, some of whom had greeted the choice of Miers with groans 
of disappointment because they had other favorites with records and 
views more obviously in line with their own.

It's too soon to judge this nomination. But my guess is that in the end 
it is the liberals who will have the most misgivings about Miers.

I came to that conclusion after a breakfast interview -- by coincidence 
the morning of the president's announcement -- with Leonard Leo, who is 
on leave as executive vice president of the Federalist Society to work 
with the White House on judicial confirmation issues.

The Federalist Society, an organization of conservative lawyers, has 
been influential in staffing the Bush administration and recommending 
candidates for the federal bench. Leo came late to the breakfast from a 
conference call, in which he was attempting to quash the arguments other 
conservative leaders were making against Miers.

He spoke as one who has known and worked with her for well over a 
decade, who has played host to her when she has been a Federalist 
Society speaker, and -- perhaps most significant -- who joined her in a 
battle to get the American Bar Association to rescind its resolution 
endorsing Roe v. Wade , the decision establishing a right to abortion.

The first thing Leo said was that Miers's statement accepting the 
nomination from Bush was significant to him. "It is the responsibility 
of every generation to be true to the Founders' vision of the proper 
role of courts in our society . . . and to help ensure that the courts 
meet their obligations to strictly apply the laws and the Constitution," 
she said. "When she talked about 'the Founders' vision' and used the 
word 'strictly,' " Leo said, "I thought, 'Robert Bork,' " Ronald 
Reagan's Supreme Court pick, who was rejected by the Senate after a 
bitter fight. "She didn't have to go there. She could simply have said, 
'Judges should not legislate from the bench.' But she chose those words."

I asked if he was surprised that she did -- or whether it was consistent 
with what he knew of her judicial philosophy. He replied: "I'm not 
surprised that's what she believes. I'm surprised her handlers let her 
say it."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/05/AR2005100501940.html
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