HARRIET MIERS -NOMINEE TO REPLACE O'CONNOR

Today President Bush announced that he had chosen White House Council Harriet Miers to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. Initial response to this nomination was mixed. There was some praise and some condemnation and quite a lot of hesitation with accusations of, "cronyism," thrown in since the President has known Ms. Miers for more than a decade and she has been his personal attorney and a member of his staff both as Governor and President. Many conservatives are disappointed because that President did not pick a known conservative that would challenge the left to a fight in the Senate to bring about confirmation. Many also question her because prominent Democrats such as Chuck Schumer (D) NY and Senate Minority leader , "Hapless," Harry Reid (D) NV have expressed liking Ms. Miers. Prominent conservatives such as Ann Coulter have openly condemned the nomination because she is not an out spoken conservative and as well known as other possible nominees who were thought to be on the list. Many also consider the fact that Schumer and Reid, "sounded," favorable was also a bad sign. Let me remind you that when Bush nominated John Roberts the Democrat reaction and particularly Schumer and Reid had a similar response yet when confirmation took place they BOTH voted against Roberts stating that his views were too conservative for their liking! The President has known Miers for quite some time and I believe that he should be given the benefit of the doubt. From ALL corners both conservative and liberal the initial response about John Roberts was very much the same. Dems said he was qualified and a nice person and Conservatives said he was more of a moderate and questionable. This time they too claim that Bush caved into the left, but remember when Roberts faced the Senate he proved his conservative credentials and made a fool of the liberal members of the judiciary committee showing himself as a strict Constitutionalist concerning the law. Miers in her speech after the President introduced her said much the same as she spoke of her admiration and marveled at the insight and wisdom of the Founding Fathers in writing the Constitution. Vice President Cheney said on Rush Limbaugh and Saun Hannity today that Miers was a conservative and a Constitutionalist who believes that the Judiciary should not legislate from the bench but abide by a strong Constitutional format in handing down court decisions. Once again just as with Roberts, Miers has very little paper trail which makes opposition to her nomination very difficult for the Democrats and the fact that she is a women also will make the Dems look foolish if they come out strongly against her when their parties stance on feminism is taken into consideration. Rush also brought out a very important point today concerning the weakness of the Republican majority in the Senate. He asked the question, "would you want these Republicans as your army to fight this battle ?" This is an excellent question which I feel certain that Bush had to take into consideration, which in turn would lead toward nominating an unknown like Miers. The next few weeks will prove interesting as more about her judicial philosophy becomes known. Personally I believe at least at this point that she will be shown to be similar to Roberts and will have the same success in confirmation that he did. Time will tell !

Ken Taylor