csua.org/u/dum -> www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/charleskrauthammer/2005/10/21/172176.html
A WASHINGTON -- It's no secret that I think the Harriet Miers nomination wa s a mistake. Nonetheless, when asked how she will do in the hearings, my answer is, I hope she does well. Nor would I take any joy in seeing her rejected, though I continue to believe it would be best for the country that she not be confirmed for t he Supreme Court. And while I remain as exercised as anyone by the lack of wisdom of t his choice, I part company from those who see the Miers nomination as a betrayal of conservative principles. The idea that Bush is looking to ap point some kind of closet liberal David Souter or even some rudderless S andra Day O'Connor clone is wildly off the mark. The president's mistake was thinking he could sneak a reliable conservative past the liberal li tmus tests (on abortion, above all) by nominating a candidate at once ex ceptionally obscure and yet exceptionally well known to him. Her obscurity is the result of her lack of constitutional history, which, in turn, ro bs her of the minimum qualifications for service on the Supreme Court. A nd while, post-Bork, stealth seems to be the most precious asset a conse rvative Supreme Court nominee can have, how stealthy is a candidate who has come out publicly for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion? At first she will have to pass an implicit competency test. As case upon case is thrown at her on national televis ion, she dare not respond, as she apparently did to Sen. Sam Brownback who will try to establish some grounds to believe tha t she has a judicial philosophy, and it is conservative. And then there will be the Democrats who, in their first act of politica l wisdom in this millennium, have held their fire on Miers, under the ol d political axiom that when your opponent is committing suicide, you get out of the way. But now that Miers is so exposed on abortion, the Democ rats will be poised like a reserve cavalry to come over the hills to att ack her from the left -- assuming she has survived the attack from the r ight. When the chairman and ranking me mber of the Judiciary Committee express bipartisan exasperation, annoyan ce and almost indignation at her answers to the committee's simple quest ionnaire, she's got trouble. This after she confused Chairman Specter ab out her position on Griswold, the second most famous right to privacy' ' case ever, and seemed confused when answering ranking Democrat Leahy's question about her favorite justice. John Fund reports th at in a conference call of conservative leaders, two confidantes of Mier s explicitly said that she would overturn Roe. The subsequent denials by one of these judges that he ever said that, and the subsequent affirmat ion by two of the people who had heard the call that in fact he did say so, create the nightmare scenario of subpoenaed witnesses contradicting each other under oath over Miers. Lindsey Graham has been a staunch and public supporter of this nomin ee. Yet on Wednesday he joined Brownback in demanding privileged documen ts from Miers' White House tenure. For a nominee who, unlike John Roberts, has practically no previous record on constitutional issues, such documentation is essential for the Senate to judge her thinking and legal acumen. But there is no way that any president would release this kind of information -- policy docume nts'' and legal analysis'' -- from such a close confidante. It would f orever undermine the ability of any president to get unguarded advice. Which creates a classic conflict, not of personality, not of compete nce, not of ideology, but of simple constitutional prerogatives: The Sen ate cannot confirm her unless it has this information. And the White Hou se cannot allow release of this information lest it jeopardize executive privilege. Hence the perfectly honorable way to solve the conundrum: Miers with draws out of respect for both the Senate and the executive's prerogative s, the Senate expresses appreciation for this gracious acknowledgment of its needs and responsibilities, and the White House accepts her decisio n with the deepest regret and with gratitude for Miers' putting preserva tion of executive prerogative above personal ambition.
Second Chances: Call President Bush about Judicia l Nominations" With Harriet Miers' withdrawal from contention, President Bush has an opp ortunity to recommend a new candidate for nomination to the US Supreme Court. Call the President and tell him to keep his campaign promise...
by Tim Chapman (Oct 27, 2005) Once thought to be the party of fiscal discipline, the Republican Party has presided over an astronomical growth in government in recent years.
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