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■"Justice Miers? Get Real: The case for a new nominee," op-ed by John Tierney, New York Times, 8 October 2005, p. A29.
Really good piece, til about halfway through, by the always interesting Tierney.
He goes through all my reasons for wanting Miers to succeed, despite my better judgment: 1) it could be far worse if Bush picked a real Scalia; and 2) not bad to have that someone who's not part of the weird, insular, "judicial monastery," as Bush calls it.
The problem is, of course, that Miers seems to have so little to recommend her. Hell, Bush picks Oprah tomorrow and she sweeps in with HER real-world experience, but Miers comes off as a non-judge David Souter, picked for the doubleplusgood attributes of being both Bush loyalist and having no written legal record of note. Not a great combo.
Justice nominees usually get rejected in a fit of pique, and Bush has certainly earned his from both Left (for all the usuals) and Right (for disappointing them with both Roberts [whether most realize it yet or not] and--far more so--with Miers). What the opposition to her nomination have going right now is powerful: a passionate out-of-power party and too few in-power-party stalwarts to stand at the nominee's defense.
This could get really ugly, but I am loathe to wish for something better, because I feel that, in Miers' defeat, we'll set the stage for a truly right-wing justice in her place. In my mind, centrists and Dems the country over were lucky to see O'Connor and Rhenquist so "moderately" replaced. Roberts will be a good herder of cats, I believe, and Miers was unlikely to do much harm, being an intellectual lightweight.
If Miers goes down, and I now believe it is entirely possible (when the Wills and the Kristols abandon you and the Left is gearing up, you're in real trouble), we may all end up being happy with Roberts' tendency to rule as a real centrist (which I believe he will), because what we end up with post-Miers may be fairly hardcore.
Good potential upside: Bush's desire to fill the Fed chairmanship with a crony is probably moot now.
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