Yesterday, President George W. Bush nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Miers, who has no judicial experience, seems to have been chosen for her loyalty to President Bush. Over the years, she has played an important role in Bush’s political campaigns—providing legal assistance with his 1994 campaign for Texas governor and his 2000 campaign for president. Furthermore, Miers once told the National Review’s David Frum that President Bush was the most brilliant man she had ever met, reflecting the intense loyalty, or “zeal” to use Frum’s words, Miers has for Bush. She most recently helped Bush by refusing to release documents on John Roberts during his confirmation hearings. While little has been uncovered thus far about her political views, in 1993 she made an attempt to get the American Bar Association (ABA) to reconsider its support of abortion rights.
Many conservative Republicans were disappointed by the nomination and initial reactions from Democratic Senator Harry Reid suggest that the Democrats will not provide any substantial opposition. In fact, Reid last week named Miers as a worthwhile pick for the Supreme Court on a “bloggers” teleconference in which he participated.
