It Won’t Please Anyone

President Bush made his choice for the next Supreme Court Justice known today. This morning he announced that his selection to replace Sandra Day O’Connor is Harriet Miers, his White House council and longtime friend. This selection will divide both parties with members from both sides of the aisle taking positions for and against her.

Miers has practiced law for a long time but has never served on the bench. This seems to turn some people off though just last month many were indicating that Bush should select such a person. Since she has never been a judge she has no juicial opinions, written or otherwise. Her paper trail is scant at best and only her inner circle will actually know how she feels about many of today’s hot button issues.

Some conservatives will not be happy because there is no indication that she is the hard line constructionist that Bush promised to put on the bench. Others will be happy that Bush chose a woman and one who could very well appease the democrats.

Some liberals will be unhappy with her because she sought to have the Texas Bar Association put the abortion issue up for referendum. Many will look at this as a stance against abortion though her intent was to have the bar take no position on the issue saying that the association should not take a position on an issue that has caused so much division in the country. Many will question the move as cronyism. Some liberals, on the other hand, have already expressed that they like the nomination.

This will be interesting because it is obvious that this nominee does not appear to meet the requirement for filibuster under the gang of 14 compromise. She will however, come under intense scrutiny because there is not much of a public record from which to take a decision. Of course with the liberals this does not matter. John Roberts was probably the most qualified legal mind in the country and some still voted against him.

I will trust that the President knows this woman well enough to know how she feels about issues and that he knew what he was doing when he selected her.

Some people from each party are not happy and this could be a problem though I think she will ultimately be confirmed. Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan and Rush Limbaugh are staunch conservatives who are not overly happy with the choice. This in and of itself could garner a few democratic votes.

Related articles:
Breitbart
My Way News
Human Events Online

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4 Responses to “It Won’t Please Anyone”

  1. The Wayfarer says:

    When I first heard of the President’s choice this morning I was immediately concerned since his choice was not one of the recognized constitutionalists whose name had been tossed about in the past few months. A day of reading various comments and what is available concerning Harriet Miers has solidified my personal opinion. And my opinion is nowhere near as charitable as Limbaugh, Kristol, or Coulter.

    As I think you may be aware, Bigdog, I was not particularly happy with the choice of Roberts as Chief Justice. Not when Scalia and Thomas were available. Perhaps neither wanted the position, but we don’t know that. Regardless, with an opportunity to place a conservative, strict constitutionalist in charge of the SCOTUS, the President dropped the ball. And now with the chance to put a known entity, proven to decide constitutionality as opposed to making new law based on popular opinion and even foreign nation jurisprudence, the President seems to have once again failed.

    As we know, the libs cannot win the day either at the ballot box or in the court of public opinion. Their only chance to get their destructive way is through judicial activism. With his two choices for the Supreme Court, it seems that the libs will likely have a much easier time wreaking their destruction on the nation.

    It seems to me that the President has been much more concerned with getting somebody approved rather than putting the right people in place. Would the choice of Scalia or Thomas been controversial and difficult? Yes. Would it have led to three, no doubt rancorous, confirmation hearings? Yes. Would more seasoned, well known constitutionalists have likely led to a possible fillibuster and the ‘nuclear’ (more properly, constitutional) option? Yes. Would the fight have been worth it? YES!

    It seems to me that the President’s choices border on, dare I say it, cowardice.

  2. Big Dog says:

    I can not say that I disagree with this assessment. I would have liked to seen a more conservative person, a strict constitutionalist and I think the beating the President has taken recently might have influenced his decision but I think we need to trust the decision. It is his to make and we can only hope he kept his position.

    As for Thomas and Scalia, they are older and maybe they did not want it. Maybe he did not want the tough battles. Whatever it is we now only have time to see because Roberts is a young man who will be around a while.

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