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10.03.2005
Of ... what else ... the Supreme Court!
Wow, this guy makes some strong statements that there's no way he could ever support--some combination of academic enticements and those omnipresent liberal media actually made Justice Kennedy into a moderate--oh really?
(1) Conservative groups lashing out against the nomination, as reported on The Drudge Report mean that the President might just be making good on his statements that he intends to unite the country rather than divide it.
(2) Miers's former contributions to Demsocrats and current standing with Republicans likely means that she is capable of independent, non-ideological thinking, which is a good thing.
(3) We don't really know much else about her, so there's not much to be unhappy about. As I said about now Chief Justice Roberts, there's really no good reason to oppose Miers's nomination--at least not yet--because there exists no record to review. Conservatives can rest assured that President Bush knows her well, so she's not likely to turn into Justice Ginsburg, and liberals can be happy that she has some background with the Democratic Party, so she's not likely to be one-sided in her approach to the bench as, say, the late C.J. Rehnquist was. In fact, she seems pretty likely to fill Justice O'Connor's shoes quite nicely.
Here's a nice little piece on the appointment as well.
***
In other news, I went to New Jersey this weekend and got to see lots of long lost relatives. It was all in all a very nice visit, and included some quality bocce and I forget the name of the other game, good food, and cousinly bonding around a campfire. It's nice to know that even as it becomes difficult to spend as much time with family as I had once been used to, I can still show up for 24 hours or so and have a good time and good conversation.
It was strange, however, to leave the nice domestic bubble Summer and I have been carving out in Providence, and it was nice to come home to her and the cats (and the Eagles, who managed to come back once I was properly in attendance at the tv). It seems she had a good time with her family members as well, though, so the weekend was a success.
Also a success was Corpse Bride, which I enjoyed as much as I expected to. I didn't like the music as well as that of Nightmare Before Christmas, but the story and characters made for a good show.
On Thursday I stayed after school to eat pizza and watch Fahrenheit 451, which I also enjoyed as much as I expected to. I suppose it's odd to enjoy a movie about book-burning, but it was a nice mix of thoughtfulness and camp--jet-propelled policemen make any movie a good one.
I think there's a lot more stuff that happened last week, but my mind is mostly full of law school and thoughts of lunch, so I might just take off now and let you know later, if I ever remember.
P.S. Can't wait to see how Biden reacts to Miers. It's an interesting political decision for him--how sympathetic is she? Will potential 2008 voters respond well to Biden attacking her the way he did Roberts, or does her Democratic background compel a gentler treatment? He and his strategists must be thinking hard...
The pressures on a Supreme Court justice to shift leftward are intense. There is the negative pressure of the vicious, hostile press that legal conservatives must endure. And there are the sweet little inducements--the flattery, the invitations to conferences in Austria and Italy, the lectureships at Yale and Harvard--that come to judges who soften and crumble. Harriet Miers is a taut, nervous, anxious personality. It is hard for me to imagine that she can endure the anger and abuse--or resist the blandishments--that transformed, say, Anthony Kennedy into the judge he is today.My take on the situation:
(1) Conservative groups lashing out against the nomination, as reported on The Drudge Report mean that the President might just be making good on his statements that he intends to unite the country rather than divide it.
(2) Miers's former contributions to Demsocrats and current standing with Republicans likely means that she is capable of independent, non-ideological thinking, which is a good thing.
(3) We don't really know much else about her, so there's not much to be unhappy about. As I said about now Chief Justice Roberts, there's really no good reason to oppose Miers's nomination--at least not yet--because there exists no record to review. Conservatives can rest assured that President Bush knows her well, so she's not likely to turn into Justice Ginsburg, and liberals can be happy that she has some background with the Democratic Party, so she's not likely to be one-sided in her approach to the bench as, say, the late C.J. Rehnquist was. In fact, she seems pretty likely to fill Justice O'Connor's shoes quite nicely.
Here's a nice little piece on the appointment as well.
***
In other news, I went to New Jersey this weekend and got to see lots of long lost relatives. It was all in all a very nice visit, and included some quality bocce and I forget the name of the other game, good food, and cousinly bonding around a campfire. It's nice to know that even as it becomes difficult to spend as much time with family as I had once been used to, I can still show up for 24 hours or so and have a good time and good conversation.
It was strange, however, to leave the nice domestic bubble Summer and I have been carving out in Providence, and it was nice to come home to her and the cats (and the Eagles, who managed to come back once I was properly in attendance at the tv). It seems she had a good time with her family members as well, though, so the weekend was a success.
Also a success was Corpse Bride, which I enjoyed as much as I expected to. I didn't like the music as well as that of Nightmare Before Christmas, but the story and characters made for a good show.
On Thursday I stayed after school to eat pizza and watch Fahrenheit 451, which I also enjoyed as much as I expected to. I suppose it's odd to enjoy a movie about book-burning, but it was a nice mix of thoughtfulness and camp--jet-propelled policemen make any movie a good one.
I think there's a lot more stuff that happened last week, but my mind is mostly full of law school and thoughts of lunch, so I might just take off now and let you know later, if I ever remember.
P.S. Can't wait to see how Biden reacts to Miers. It's an interesting political decision for him--how sympathetic is she? Will potential 2008 voters respond well to Biden attacking her the way he did Roberts, or does her Democratic background compel a gentler treatment? He and his strategists must be thinking hard...
posted by Max Greene at 11:32 AM
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3 Comments:
You mention several times Miers's "Democratic" background, but it only amounts to a couple of contributions to Texas Democrats, which, as we know, may not be as blue as those from, well, blue states.
I am not as optimistic about her nomination as you. At least with Roberts, we had a clearly intelligent and nice conservative. Here, the best that anyone (other than Bush) seems to be able to say is that she is above average. (She is really getting trashed on Slate -- someone said that Jack Roberts, age 4, would have been a more impressive nominee.)
I think the Bush folk have learned from how they beat Kerry in November; having a years-long voting (or judging) record can only be harmful, so it's best to pick nominees who have no such trail and then teach them to dodge questions at the confirmation hearings. I also think this pick was strategic (strategeric?) in that she is so weak and unknown that Democrats won't dare oppose her. Not only will they run the risk of looking bad for opposing an affirmative action nominee, but they'll probably be scared that if she is not confirmed, Bush will nominate a capable, intelligent, and charismatic conservative (like McConnell), albeit one who would provoke more of a battle. Further, if she is merely mediocre, then, like Bush's election in 2000, people will be thrilled if she seems merely competent in the hearings and will easily confirm her.
Anyway, I guess I still feel that with W, this is about as "good" as we can hope for, but someone stated it very well when they said that Bush was committing "the soft bigotry of low expectations" -- which is his own criticism of affirmative action -- with this nomination.
I was relying in part on this (original article removed; link to retraction) and in part on this--Clinton and Gore, the latter of whom is still relevant to my point, are not just a couple of Texas Dems.
Here are a few of Miers's thoughts. Maybe not Robertsesque, but not too shabby.
Anyway, my readings of O'Connor's opinions and especially concurrences in Kim's Constitutional Law class lead me to believe that an above average justice would be preferable to O'Connor. At least as far as church-state doctrine, O'Connor seemed as mixed up as your average Joe would have been sitting on the court. Perhaps I'll provide some examples later.
Basically all the trashing I've heard of Miers is just based on the fact that she doesn't have much of a record. I fail to see how this is indicative of her capabilities or intelligence. Basically all anyone can do at this point is spout on first impressions, as we've both done, wait until Miers is on the bench (or until some sort of bomb is dropped before the Senate hearings), and see what happens. I'm happy to take that over a Rehnquist or Scalia clone.
Here's a funny little article summarizing what the bloggers of the world are writing about Miers. Now why didn't he link to me?
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