Bush Appoints someone with NO EXPERIENCE to Supreme Court?

[Professor Smooth]

Applying for my passport tomorrow, btw.

WASHINGTON -
President Bush named White House counsel Harriet Miers to a Supreme Court in transition Monday, turning to a longtime loyalist with no experience as a judge and scant public record on abortion to succeed Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor.
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Miers "will strictly interpret our Constitution and laws. She will not legislate from the bench," the president said as the 60-year-old former private attorney and keeper of campaign secrets stood nearby in the Oval Office.

Miers was Bush's second selection in three months for vacancies on a high court long divided on key issues. The announcement came shortly before the president attended a ceremony marking John Roberts' new tenure as the nation's 17th chief justice.

"The wisdom of those who drafted our Constitution and conceived our nation as functioning with three strong and independent branches has proven truly remarkable," Miers said at the White House before departing for the Capitol and a Senate confirmation campaign already taking shape.

In conference calls and interviews, the White House worked aggressively during the day to tamp down concern among conservatives determined — as Bush has pledged — to turn the court in a new direction.

Rush Limbaugh repeatedly challenged Vice President
Dick Cheney on the nomination in an interview. But by day's end the White House trumpeted favorable comments from James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, among other prominent conservatives.

Additionally, Kyleen Wright, president of an anti-abortion group then known as Texans United for Life, said in an interview that Miers donated $150 to the organization as a "bronze patron" for its annual dinner in 1989.

Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said through his spokesman he wanted a confirmation vote by Thanksgiving, a compressed, seven-week timetable by recent historical standards. Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pledged thoroughness.

"There needs to be, obviously, a very thorough inquiry into her background as a lawyer and her activities, people who will know her on the issues of character and integrity, which we will find out," he said. Democrats said they would likely demand selected memos from a White House that refused to turn over many of them during Roberts' confirmation.

Despite criticism, initial reaction suggested Bush had managed to satisfy many of the conservatives who helped confirm Roberts — without inflaming Democrats who repeatedly warned against the selection of an extreme conservative to succeed O'Connor, who has voted to uphold abortion rights and preserve affirmative action.

Several officials familiar with Bush's consultations with Congress said that Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, the Democratic leader, had recommended that he consider Miers for the vacancy. In a written statement, Reid praised the Dallas native as a "trailblazer for women as managing partner of a major Dallas law firm" and said he would be glad to have a former practicing attorney on the court. If confirmed, she would become the second woman on the court, and the third in the history of the court.

Frist greeted Miers by telling her, "We're so proud of you." Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record), R-Ky., the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, issued a statement saying he looked "forward to Ms. Miers' confirmation."

Republicans hold a 55-44 majority in the Senate, with one independent. Barring a filibuster, they can confirm Miers on the strength of their votes alone.

Miers has served as an adviser to Bush for more than a decade, in positions as varied as private attorney, chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission and in the White House.

When Bush decided to run for governor of Texas in the early 1990s, he turned to Miers to research his own background for information that his opponents might try to use against him. When terrorists struck the United States in 2001, she was with him as staff secretary on what had been a routine trip to Florida.

While her loyalty to Bush is unquestioned, Democrats publicly and Republicans privately wondered about her qualifications for the high court.

"The president has selected a loyal political ally without a judicial record to sit on the highest court in the land," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont, senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said the appointment raised questions about Miers' role in controversies during the Bush administration and more broadly about "the Supreme Court maintaining its political independence."

At the same time, several senators, Reid and Specter among them, said they would be pleased to have a justice with no prior judicial experience, and the White House moved to fend off any charge that Bush was merely picking a longtime associate.

The administration released material showing that 10 of the 34 justices appointed since 1933 had worked for the president who picked them. The list included the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, first tapped for the court by Richard M. Nixon, and Byron White, named by John F. Kennedy.

Republican concerns tended to be more muted. Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record), R-Kan., a strong foe of abortion, pointedly declined to issue a statement responding to the nomination.

Officials said state and local GOP leaders peppered the White House with questions during a conference call, raising concerns about a lack of a documented Miers record on abortion and about her overall qualifications for the court.

They also wondered about Miers' $1,000 donations
Al Gore's 1988 presidential bid, and to Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen's re-election campaign the same year. She also has donated money to Bush and other Republicans.

Abortion has overshadowed all over issues in Supreme Court nominations in recent years — and to the consternation of conservatives, Miers has scant public record on the issue.

As president of the Texas State Bar in 1993, Miers was a leader in an unsuccessful fight to persuade the American Bar Association to reconsider its pro-abortion rights stance by submitting it to a nationwide referendum.

At the time, she questioned whether the group should "be trying to speak for the entire legal community" on an issue that she said "has brought on tremendous divisiveness" within the organization.

While Miers evidently did not publicly state a view on the issue of abortion at the time, one conservative cited the events to support her nomination.

"It took a degree of courage for Harriet to be involved in that," said Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society. "The ABA is a place where there was an awful lot of liberal activism, so it took some courage for a woman to take the position she did."

Bush apparently discerned similar personal qualities in Miers long ago.

In 1996, Bush called her a pit bull in size 6 shoes. "When it comes to a cross-examination, she can fillet better than Mrs. Paul," he said on another occasion, referring to a frozen fish company.

[Computron]

Rehnquist had no judicial experience prior to becoming Chief Justice.

Food for thought.

[Professor Smooth]

Rehnquist had no judicial experience prior to becoming Chief Justice.

Food for thought.

You're right. It is. I think I'll start on that application now. Why wait?

[Legion]

Supreme Court with no experience, Whitehouse with no experience...

I see a pattern forming...

[Kaylee]

She's a pretty good choice imo. Obviously she's a conservative (Bush wouldbe slaughtered if he nominated anyone else) but the extreme right/religious wings of the party are fuming that she's not liable to take a conservative social view as well as economic. Couple that with Guiliani looking like a promising candidate for next republican leader (another social liberal) and suddenly the whole 'lets ban abortion and stone gay people' nonsense looks decidedly shaky.

The lack of experience is also hardly a precident setter as compy pointed out, especially when the alternatives were hard line conservatives.

Good luck with your passport. Though you may find out in a few years that most country's do stupid things, are generally corrupt and don't necessarily run the way you want. Hope it works out for you, but a word to the wise- you're unlikely to find the rest of the world especially 'better' than the US. Though naturally what 'better' might entail is entirely subjective... ("wow, square water mellons! sooo much better than home!" )

[Obfleur]

Where are you headed, Smooth?

[Kaylee]

Where are you headed, Smooth?

Along a mountain path high in the Andes- following the path of the setting sun that leads to Eldorado, and the Mysterious *Cities of Gold*!

He's borrowing my golden condor for the trip n_n

[Obfleur]

Ooooh. Is Pedro going with him?

[Kaylee]

Could you say 'no' to that face?



...sorry, I'll stop spamming up the topic now...

[Professor Smooth]

Where are you headed, Smooth?

I'm going to teach English in Japan for a couple of years. After that, I'll probably wander around Europe for awhile.

[Guest]

Supreme Court with no experience, Whitehouse with no experience...

I see a pattern forming...

The Bush family motto:

"Lead by example."

[jboyler]

Where are you headed, Smooth?

I'm going to teach English in Japan for a couple of years. After that, I'll probably wander around Europe for awhile.

Just don't let them grab your wang. And watch out for the butt-poke game.

-J

[Guest]

Where are you headed, Smooth?

I'm going to teach English in Japan for a couple of years. After that, I'll probably wander around Europe for awhile.

Just don't let them grab your wang. And watch out for the butt-poke game.

-J

In Japan, or Europe?

[Ikijigoku]

Where are you headed, Smooth?

I'm going to teach English in Japan for a couple of years. After that, I'll probably wander around Europe for awhile.

Why does Bush keep on giving the world reasons to either laugh at us or hate us!!

Smooth, that's exactly what I going to be doing. Maybe a couple of years in Japan, or Korea.

There's no money in this country. In the last 5 years, this country has gone down the toilet. Moral is low and so is the economy. Job are going South and big companies are going to Canada and Mexico. Unemployment is skyrocketing. A bachealors degree is just as good as toilet paper in this country. With the lack of a cohesive economy, somehow gas prices still go up. Nice way for the economy to get back on their feet. People are losing there jobs because they can't afford to drive. The nice thing about Japan there is a shameless mode of transportation, It's called mass transit. Pretty cheap too!

[Shanti418]

IMO, the nomination actually makes a lot of sense for Bush.

The extreme conservatives are all pissed because they're like, "We voted you into office, now give us a dyed in the wool conservative who we KNOW hates abortion, gays, and is a strict constitutionalist"

But on Bush's side, with the Iraq War/Katrina/economy/gas the way it is, he has very little political capitol right now, and to try and push someone who espouses those views openly will only invite the Democrats to fillibuster and bring more heat and scrutiny down on the whole process.

So Bush is taking someone he feels he knows well, who he feels he knows will be the kind of justice his supporters will want, and offering them up. And it's hard to go against her because no one really knows WHAT her positions are. His base has to trust him (even though the last time a President Bush said, "trust me, he's on our side" for a questionable nominee, they got David Souter, and they're STILL mad about that), and his opposition has to go, "well, it could have been a LOT worse."

To this end, conservative pundits, including Rush Limbaugh are kind of mad because, to paraphrase what he said, "We don't need to be ashamed of our conservatism or to hide it. We won the elections. We get to make the rules. We get the spoils."

Which is kind of disgusting. But that's the way conservatives are.

[BB Shockwave]

Where are you headed, Smooth?

I'm going to teach English in Japan for a couple of years. After that, I'll probably wander around Europe for awhile.

Be sure to drop by to HUngary!

[Professor Smooth]

Where are you headed, Smooth?

I'm going to teach English in Japan for a couple of years. After that, I'll probably wander around Europe for awhile.

Be sure to drop by to HUngary!

If you've got a couch, I've got the time.

[sprunkner]

Where are you headed, Smooth?

I'm going to teach English in Japan for a couple of years. After that, I'll probably wander around Europe for awhile.

Cool... we're going to Taiwan next year. Japan sounded better, but they'll pay us for going to Taiwan because I will have a degree by then. That's right. I am getting a job because of my Bachelor's in English.

[BB Shockwave]

I'm going to teach English in Japan for a couple of years. After that, I'll probably wander around Europe for awhile.

Be sure to drop by to HUngary!

If you've got a couch, I've got the time.

Sure I do!

[Laserwave]

Rehnquist had no judicial experience prior to becoming Chief Justice.

Food for thought.

Just like Dubya had no prior experience to living on Earth before becoming President.