Conservatives should give Miers a closer look

Bush did not scrape the bottom of the barrel when he picked her

I just heard Ann Coulter reacting very badly to Miers. You'd think Bush was picking her solely because she is his attorney. For the counter view, one only need to see what Beldar Blog has to say. His comparison of Miers' experience with Roberts' is instructive. Here's a sample:

• Harriet Miers has now successfully vetted a Chief Justice of the United States and many other federal judicial nominees. John Roberts helped prepare some nominees for their Senate testimony in the Reagan Administration, but had little or no role in their selection.
• Harriet Miers' experience at the trial court level in complicated civil litigation covers many years, and every pretrial, trial, and post-trial aspect of a wide variety and number of cases. With comparatively fewer years in private practice, John Roberts has absolutely no such trial court experience — he's never picked a jury, never tried a case, never even taken a deposition. (And now that he's Chief Justice, he almost certainly never will.)

It seems that she will bring some much needed balance to the court. She'll be the only Southerner on the bench. She's done the most lawyering. She's had the most experience in commercial litigation. Her experience in that area alone will be invaluable. Bad decisions, such as those that led to the asbestos mess, have been incredibly damaging to the US economy.

We should also take account of the fact that we are at war against an implacable foe. Harriet Miers has been advising the President while he has been under concerted assault by the ACLU, CAIR, Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, the UN and the rest of America's enemies. She knows what the stakes are and there is little doubt she knows more about the war than any current member of the court or any other prospective nominee.

[0] comments [1130] Views | Permalink | [294] TrackBack |