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Supreme Court Politics - Miers lacks votes

Miers lacks the votes

Schumer says Miers lacks votes
WASHINGTON -- A Democrat on the Senate committee that will consider Harriet Miers' nomination said Sunday that President Bush's Supreme Court choice lacks the votes now to be confirmed, saying there are too many questions about her qualifications. "If you held the vote today, she would not get a majority either in the Judiciary Committee or the floor," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York. On the 18-member GOP-controlled committee, "there are one or two who said they'd support her as of now."

Senate could call on Dobson to testify
He says he was assured on Miers
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 yesterday. 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's conservative credentials among right-leaning groups unhappy with her nomination. He spoke with Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove shortly before President Bush announced the nomination, and later hinted he had received privileged information.

Conservatives Now Realize--George Bush Is Not One Of Us!
It seems my conservative brethren have finally woken-up to the fact that the man who owes them his political life, will never repay his debt. George Bush has been a constant disappointment to true conservative Americans and much like hi latest nominee to the Supreme Court--is unfit for high office. Failing to nominate a hard-line conservative to the high court is only the latest, though the most crushing blow dealt by Bush to his conservative base. We have been waiting two decades to replace the turncoat O'Connor with a fire-breathing, anti-homosexual, anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-life nominee. Bill Clinton rewarded his liberal base with chief counsel to the ACLU Ruth Bader Ginsburg, while the best we can get is a one-term Dallas City Councilwoman.

O'Connor Prepares for Final Days on Court
WASHINGTON -- Her legacy not yet sealed, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is getting an unexpected final chance to select fights for the Supreme Court to take on and to influence colleagues in abortion, capital punishment and assisted suicide cases. O'Connor's delayed retirement leaves in place - at least for a couple of months - a power broker, popular and respected among the other justices.

Harriet Miers covered-up Texas Lottery crimes
The Texas Lottery Commission fired lottery Executive Director Larry Littwin on Oct. 29, 1997, to end an investigation he had launched to uncover a criminal pattern of political influence buying that involved GTECH, the Rhode Island company operating the lottery, prominent Texas lobbyists on GTECH's payroll, and a laundry list of Texas politicians, including both Democrats and Republicans. When Gov. George Bush wanted Littwin's investigation stopped, Commissioners Harriet Miers and John Hill complied.

Republicans, Democrats confounded by Miers' nomination
WASHINGTON -- Harriet Miers' embattled Supreme Court nomination has both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate in a bind. Their supporters on the left and the right both oppose her, and she's having trouble convincing lawmakers that she's qualified to sit on the nation's highest court. For Republicans, a vote for or against Miers is a choice between loyalty to the president and loyalty to their conservative base. It means trusting that Bush selected a true conservative when he chose Miers, a Texas ally who's now his White House counsel but has no record of championing conservative causes.

Harriet Miers: A Virgin-At-Law
If the Senate doesn’t lay down before pharaoh, but instead seriously vets Harriet Miers, they will find a candidate that is a virgin-at-law. The paucity of information about her, which exists for lack of judicial maturity as an arbiter of law, speaks for itself. Her puerile views in support of “gay rights” miss the fact that gay politics is not about equal rights – it is about radical feminists taking over the marriage contract, as a matter of “preference”, at the wholesale expense of men, as I have covered in my previous articles Why Gay Marriage is Unconstitutional and Why Civil Unions Are Unconstitutional, Too.

Miers Wraps Up Visits With Senators
U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has wrapped up her courtesy calls with individual senators, meeting about a quarter of them. However, Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed bewilderment and concern over her refusal to take a specific stand on critical social issues like abortion and privacy rights, the Washington Times said Friday. "No one is walking out of these meetings thinking they've just met with a star," a Republican Judiciary staffer told the newspaper. Meetings with Democrats have not gone much better.

Embarrassing setback for Bush's nominee
President Bush's controversial supreme court nominee, Harriet Miers, stumbled at her first formal hurdle yesterday, when the Senate asked her to rewrite answers to a questionnaire on her background and opinions. It was the first time that American legal observers could remember a supreme court nominee being asked to redo the questionnaire, normally considered a formality. The request represents an embarrassment for an administration struggling to regain its balance in a hailstorm of scandals and mistakes.

Rough going in ragged confirmation campaign on Miers' behalf
WASHINGTON -- Behind closed doors, the former senator trying to smooth the way for confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers appealed for patience. She is qualified, said Dan Coats, asking that those in the audience wait for hearings before making up their mind. It was a routine request. Except that Coats, R-Ind., was speaking to a roomful of dubious Republican senators, rather than Democrats, in remarks that underscored Miers' clouded confirmation prospects.

Posted by Editor at October 24, 2005 08:06 AM