Harriet Miers

[Scrooge McSam]

Should be fun to watch whatever happens.

That far right nominee I was expecting has not materialized. The far right nominee the far right base was expecting has not materialized. I'm kind of happy about it. They're definitely not. Bush didn't throw the far right that nominee they think they're due. Bush sold out his far right base. Will they continue to carry water for Bush after he's let them down again? What about after the indictments start rolling in? Time will tell.

And now with Reid and several other dems coming out in support of this nominee... it just gets curiouser and curiouser.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

And, she's never been a judge before? This is the SUPREME COURT. Maybe we have a long history of appointing successful supreme court judges that have no experience. Who knows. But, it just seems wrong.

As Bush carefully pointed out in his nominating speech, 35 past Supreme Court justices had no prior judicial experience before being confirmed to the high court, including the recently-deceased Chief Justice William Renquist.

Otherwise, I would agree that - on its face - zero time on the bench would automatically disqualify you for consideration to serve on the Supreme Court. Well, at least Miers' experience makes just-confirmed Justice Roberts 2-year tenure as a federal judge look like a wealth of judicial experience suitable to catapult him to Chief Justice of the Supremes.


But yeah, this is cronyism of the worst and laziest kind ... particularly troubling after the Michael Brown fiasco which, in turn, led to a stinging indictment in last week's Time Magazine of the other incompetent crony department heads that Bush has filled the federal government with.


Oh, and anyone who thinks of George Bush as one of the most brilliant men they've ever known is not qualified to water my lawn.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Oh, and anyone who thinks of George Bush as one of the most brilliant men they've ever known is not qualified to water my lawn.

Could I pee on it, though?

[PanTheMan]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Like the little guy is protected from the government now?

Of Course not. The Little guy always gets mowed down by a Wal-Mart. But by appointing Cronies now to the Supreme Court, Bush/Cheney have protected their own very nicely it seems.

[scaeagles]

Again, not the responsibility of the Court. I'm more worried about the government mowing down the little guy than I am business. I don't know of any business that can take my property away without the say of the government. The current court just ruled saying it can take your land and give it to someone else if they see fit.

I don't have to do business with Walmart, or Microsoft, or any big business. I have to do business with the government.

[PanTheMan]

"The President's nomination of Miers is a betrayal of the conservative, pro-family voters whose support put Bush in the White House in both the 2000 and 2004 elections and who were promised Supreme Court appointments in the mold of Thomas and Scalia. Instead we were given 'stealth nominees,' who have never ruled on controversial issues, more in the mold of the disastrous choice of David Souter by this President's father.

"When there are so many proven judges in the mix, it is unacceptable this President has appointed a political crony with no conservative credentials. This attempt at 'Bush Packing' the Supreme Court must not be allowed to pass the Senate and we will forcefully oppose this nomination."

Conservatives are getting P.O.ed?....Hmmm....she might be ok.....lol

[Gemini Cricket]

Hmmm. Ms. Miers may be challenged by the conservatives for this one...

Harriet Miers, President Bush's pick to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy left by the retiring justice Sandra Day O'Conner, once filled out a questionnaire for a gay rights group in which she agreed that gay men and lesbians should have equal rights. But she immediately followed that answer by stating that she did not support the repeal of the Texas sodomy law, which was eventually struck down by the high court.

Source

[alphabassettgrrl]

Huh. Generally anything that upsets the far-right generally pleases me but I'm not sure what to think here. If it makes you feel any better, far-left folks scare me as well. I like people in the middle, where most regular people fit.

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by alphabassettgrrl

Huh. Generally anything that upsets the far-right generally pleases me but I'm not sure what to think here. If it makes you feel any better, far-left folks scare me as well. I like people in the middle, where most regular people fit.

Any kind of extreme thinking upsets me.
Extreme left, extreme right, extreme gay rights, extreme pro-life, extreme pro-choice...

[Alex]

Since I did the research for use elsewhere I'll repost it here, a list of 20th Century Supreme Court justices with zero time on the bench when they were appointed. There are some pretty big names on the list (including Brandeis who hadn't even ever been in public service before).

Cronyism on the court isn't exactly new, either. Earl Warren essentially earned his nomination by throwing the 1952 Republican nomination to Dwight Eisenhower instead of Robert A. Taft. As an interesting aside, Warren was later promised "the next seat on the Supreme Court" because it was assumed that associate justice Felix Frankfurter would be kicking the bucket any day time now. And then Chief Justice Fred Vinson suffered a heart attack. Eisenhower didn't think the original offer included the Chief Justice chair but when Warren cabled him saying, essentially "thank you for the nomination" he stuck to his word and gave it to him.

In doing the research for the list below, one thing stuck out at me: how the confirmation process changed. Up into the 1960s most supreme court nominations were approved within two weeks of the nomination being made and several were confirmed the day they were nominated. Not saying that is good or appropriate, it is just an interesting change.

Personally, I am not pleased with this pick. I don't care if a nominee has judicial experience (or even that they are a practiced lawyer) but they need to have some record indicating a high level of intellectual thought and accomplishment. It is essentially a brain job with a lot of navel gazing. I want to be confident that even if I disagree with them they're not exhausted keeping up with the plot twists on Alias.

Can't say that I'm confident of that.

William H. Moody - city solicitor, district attorney, 4 terms in house of representatives, Secretary of the Navy (was on bench for only four years).

James Clark McReynolds - professor of law at Vanderbilt, assistan U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Attorney General

Louis D. Brandeis - entire career prior to nomination was in private practice; founded Harvard Law Review

Harlan Fiske Stone - private practice, faculty Columbia Law, U.S. Attorney General

George Sutherland - Utah state senate, two terms in U.S. House of Reprentatives, two terms in U.S. Senate, U.S. Consul to the Hague.

Pierce Butler - assistant county attorney, county attorney, private practice, regent University of Minnesota

Charles Evans Hughes - private practice, faculty of Cornell Law, governor of New York, resigned court to run for president and was later appointed chief justice.

Owen J. Roberts - private practice, assistant district attorney, deputy attorney general, special United States attorney (investigating Harding administration), private practice.

Stanley F. Reed - Kentucky General Assembly, private practice, counsel to Federal Farm Board, counsel of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Solicitor General

Felix Frankfurter - Assistant U.S. attorney, Bureau of Insular Affairs, faculty of Harvard Law, assistant Secretary of War, chairman of the War Labor Policies Board

William O. Douglas - school teacher, private practice, faculty at Columbia Law and Yale Law, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman

Earl Warren - deputy district attorney, district attorney, governor of California

James F. Byrnes - district attorney, 14 terms in U.S. House of Representatives, two terms in U.S. Senate

Rober H. Jackson - private practice, assistant general counsel in the IRS, assistant U.S. attorney general, Solicitor General, U.S. Attorney General

Harold H. Burton - corporate lawyer, private practice, one term in Ohio House of Representatives, mayor of Cleveland, U.S. Senate

Tom C. Clark - private practice, district attorney (Dallas), various positions in the Department of Justice up to Attorney General (resigned court when son was named Attorney General).

Byron R. White - private practice, deputy U.S. Attorney General

Arthur J. Goldberg - division head in OSS, counsel to CIO and United Steelworkers, Secretary of Labor (resigned court to become ambassador to U.N.)

Abe Fortas - staff jobs in SEC and PWA, undersecretary of Interior, private practice

Lewis F. Powell, Jr. - private practice, president of the American Bar Association, member of LBJ's crime commission.

William H. Rehnquist - private practice, assistant attorney general