October 24, 2005
Mierspalooza
by Liza Sabater
On how her ethical acumen is questionable:
Salt Lake Tribune - Nation and World | While nothing indicates that Miers sought out the judge or engineered the appointments to the panel, there's also no indication that she reported the potential conflicts of interest in the case or tried to avoid them.Supreme Court justices, unlike other government officials, define potential conflicts of interest for themselves and police their own ethics.
''If Harriet Miers is confirmed, she'll be entrusted to make a large number of unreviewable decisions about which cases to sit on,'' said Doug Kendall, executive director of the Community Rights Counsel, a public-interest law firm in Washington. Kendall said the fact that Miers raised no red flags in the face of ''clearly disturbing facts'' in the in the land condemnation case doesn't say much for her ethical acumen."
On how mentioning her religion could be potentially an anti-constitutional litmus test:
Senate panel likely to call on Christian conservative || WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee is likely to summon a leading conservative Christian to explain the private assurances he says he received from the White House about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, the committee's chairman said Sunday.Testimony by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson would heighten the political and religious overtones of the already high-stakes confirmation hearing for Miers, scheduled to start two weeks from today.Dobson is among several evangelical leaders enlisted by the White House to vouch for Miers' conservative credentials among right-leaning groups unhappy with her nomination. He spoke with White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove shortly before President Bush announced the nomination and later hinted he had received privileged information. "When you know some of the things that I know -- that I probably shouldn't know -- you will understand why I have said, with fear and trepidation, that Harriet Miers will be a good justice," Dobson said told his national radio audience on Oct. 5.Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday that his panel is likely to require Dobson and perhaps others to testify about such reported conversations.
On how, no matter how you cut it, she is a catch-22 for both Democrats and Republicans:
Defending The Indefensible || Miers must begin with 22 Democratic votes against her. Surely no Democrat can retain a shred of self-respect if, having voted against John Roberts, he or she then declares Miers fit for the court. All Democrats who so declare will forfeit a right and an issue -- their right to criticize the administration's cronyism.And Democrats, with their zest for gender politics, need this reminder: To give a woman a seat on a crowded bus because she is a woman is gallantry. To give a woman a seat on the Supreme Court because she is a woman is a dereliction of senatorial duty. It also is an affront to mature feminism, which may bridle at gallantry but should recoil from condescension.
As for Republicans, any who vote for Miers will thereafter be ineligible to argue that it is important to elect Republicans because they are conscientious conservers of the judicial branch's invaluable dignity. Finally, any Republican senator who supinely acquiesces in President Bush's reckless abuse of presidential discretion -- or who does not recognize the Miers nomination as such -- can never be considered presidential material.
On how anyway she may not make the cut:
Schumer: Miers Lacks Vote to Be Confirmed || Harriet Miers does not have the votes now in the GOP-controlled Senate to be confirmed for the Supreme Court and confirmation hearings "will be make or break ... in a way they haven't been for any other nominee," a leading Democratic senator said Sunday.
While Democrats pressed the White House to provide documents from Miers' work as the president's counsel, Republicans said the nomination that has riled conservatives is not in trouble or in danger of being withdrawn.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a member of the committee that plans confirmation hearings beginning Nov. 7, said lawmakers from both parties are concerned about Miers' qualifications, independence and judicial philosophy.
"I think, if you were to hold the vote today, she would not get a majority, either in the Judiciary Committee or on the floor," said Schumer, D-N.Y.
"I think there is maybe one or two on the Judiciary Committee who have said they'd support her as of right now," he said.
Posted by Liza Sabater in Abortion, Christian Fundamentalism, Dominionism, Dominionists, Evangelical, Extremists, Harriet Miers, John Dobson, John Roberts, Religion, Reproductive Rights, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Permalink |
Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0) | Technorati Cosmos
Trackbacks
Trackback for this post:http://www.culturekitchen.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/3393
The following blogs make reference to this post :
