October 14, 2005

Miers Sounds Like O'Connor

It's been 10 days since President Bush nominated Harriet Miers. Agnostics like me are still waiting for something, anything positive about the woman. The White House has had plenty of time to offer up an argument beyond "trust us" and "she has real-world experience." (I have real-world experience. Does that make me qualified for the Supreme Court?) The Hotline is reporting that Republican activists are working behind the scenes to "derail Harriet Miers' nomination by pressuring allies of the White House to drop their support." Charlie Sykes thinks this might be a "turning point." Until someone publically switches their support for Miers or a conservative Senator announces they will vote against Miers (won't happen until her confirmation hearings) the White House has no reason to dump Miers.

Now, that bit of Miers' testimony [PDF] where she talks about the Federalist Society, the NAACP, and some group called the Progessive Voters League screams of O'Connor II. She shunned the Federalist Society because they are too "politically charged," but doesn't think the NAACP is. It reminds me of O'Connor in the Michigan law school affirmative action case where she wrote,

Access to legal education (and thus the legal profession) must be inclusive of talented individuals of every race and ethnicity, so that all members of our heterogeneous society may participate in the educational institutions that provide the training and education necessary to succeed in America.

"GOP v. Miers"

UPDATE: Andy McCarthy wonders how Miers will get out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Assuming all the Democrats vote against her just one Republican is needed to not recommend her.