It could be said that if one of the countries most prominent conservatives, right
up their with WFB, is upset, then you might want to concern yourself with why. Well he
is upset with the President’s choice in Harriet Miers.
It is important that Miers not be confirmed unless, in her 61st year, she suddenly
and unexpectedly is found to have hitherto undisclosed interests and talents pertinent
to the court’s role. Otherwise the sound principle of substantial deference to a president’s
choice of judicial nominees will dissolve into a rationalization for senatorial abdication
of the duty to hold presidents to some standards of seriousness that will prevent
them from reducing the Supreme Court to a private plaything useful for fulfilling
whims on behalf of friends.The wisdom of presumptive opposition to Miers’ confirmation flows from the fact
that constitutional reasoning is a talent — a skill acquired, as intellectual skills
are, by years of practice sustained by intense interest. It is not usually acquired
in the normal course of even a fine lawyer’s career. The burden is on Miers to demonstrate
such talents, and on senators to compel such a demonstration or reject the nomination.
He makes some very good points, but I am still with the President’s judgment on this
one.