Miers Failed to Win Support of Key Senators and Conservatives
WASHINGTON -- Harriet E. Miers withdrew her nomination for the Supreme Court this morning after weeks of increasingly heated debate over her the depth of her conservative beliefs and her qualifications to fill the seat to be vacated by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Ms. Miers, President Bush's White House counsel, told the president in a letter this morning that she feared that the confirmation process "presents a burden for the White House and our staff that is not in the best interest of the country." She said that even though her long career offered enough basis for senators to consider her nomination, "I am convinced the efforts to obtain executive branch materials and information will continue."
Mr. Bush issued a statement in which he accepted Ms. Miers's decision with regret, praised her "extraordinarily legal experience" and her character and said he agreed that senators were intent on gaining access to internal White House documents about her service. Surrendering such paperwork would undercut any president's ability to get frank and unfettered advice from key aides, Mr. Bush said.
"Harriet Miers's decision demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the Constitutional separation of powers - and confirms my deep respect and admiration for her," the president said. Mr. Bush said he would announce a new nominee "in a timely manner."
Although the president and Ms. Miers cited the principle of separation of powers as the basis for her withdrawal, there appeared to be much more to it than that. The nominee had been severely criticized by senators of all political stripes - by conservatives who doubted her commitment to their cause, especially her feelings about abortion, and by moderates and liberals, who said they knew too little about her, especially since she had never been a judge.
That lack of a "paper trail" was the reason that senators offered for seeking documents related to her White House service - documents that Mr. Bush said he would never submit. Indeed, not many days ago Mr. Bush said that principle was "a red line" that he would never cross.
Coincidentally or not, Ms. Miers's withdrawal, ostensibly over the principle of separation of powers as it relates to White House papers, is the very scenario that some conservative commentators have suggested as a face-saving ploy for the nominee and the White House.
Hovering over the nomination process in the three weeks since President Bush announced the selection of Ms. Miers was the sense that, in addition to the other hurdles she faced, she was not very lucky. Her lack of judicial experience, and her failure to persuade senators of her qualifications in face-to-face meetings, made her suffer in comparison to Judge John G. Roberts Jr., Mr. Bush's nominee for chief justice.
Judge Roberts, who was confirmed by 78 to 22, had sat on the influential United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and it was generally acknowledged that his intellect and knowledge of constitutional law dazzled many senators.
Ms. Miers has been described by friends and associates as intelligent, principled and discreet to the point of shyness. She was also one of the first women to become a partner of a major Texas law firm and to head the Texas Bar Association. But in the end, those qualities were not enough. With opposition from both Republicans and Democrats, it had become increasingly likely that Ms. Miers, 60, would fail to garner enough votes to be confirmed by the Senate.
Ms. Miers's withdrawal comes at a time when senior members of the Bush administration face possible tment growing out of the disclosure of the identity of a C.I.A. officer two years ago. Public opinion polls also show that the president's popularity has fallen dramatically as the war in Iraq continues to claim Iraqi and American lives with no end in sight.
The fierce opposition to Ms. Miers's nomination from within Republican ranks, and her subsequent withdrawal, raised the possibility that Mr. Bush might seek to placate conservatives with a nominee whose views could harden opposition among Democrats.
Concern among conservatives over Ms. Meiers's views on abortion and judicial philosophy heightened on Wednesday when The Washington Post reported that Ms. Miers, in a 1993 speech in Dallas, spoke approvingly about a trend toward "self-determination" in resolving debates about law and religion, including those involving abortion rights and religion in public schools and public places.
Before Ms. Miers was nominated by President Bush, those said to have been under serious consideration for the Supreme Court seat being vacated by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor included Judge Karen J. Williams, 54, of Orangeburg, S.C., who sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who would be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court.
Senator Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, said that he believed that Ms. Miers was forced to withdraw because she lacked the requisite support among Republicans.
"I think it was a lot of the president's friends and supporters in the Senate who said, 'We're really not comfortable with this nominee,' " Mr. Lott told CNN.
Mr. Lott said it was not concerns about Ms. Miers' stances on such issues as abortion, gay rights and religion in public life, but the "breadth of her experience and her qualifications."
He added however, that the president should appoint a "strict constructionist conservative."
. Before becoming the president's counsel, Ms. Miers had served as assistant to the president, the president's deputy chief of staff, and staff secretary at the White House.
A close friend of the president since Mr. Bush was governor of Texas, Ms. Miers had been co-managing partner at the Texas law firm Locke Liddell & Sapp, L.L.P., from 1998 to 2000. Mr. Bush had appointed her as chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission, where she served from 1995 until 2000.
In 1985, she became the first female president of the Dallas Bar Association, and in 1992, she became the first woman to serve as president of the Texas State Bar. A graduate of Southern Methodist University, she had also been a member of the Dallas City Council.
Questions about the extent of Ms. Miers's conservatism led several powerful Republicans to publicly question the nominee, a rare revolt against a president who is generally seen as a champion of conservative causes.
Conservatives on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including both Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and Jeff Sessions of Alabama, both said they had concerns about Ms. Miers's positions on abortion rights and other issues.
In the meantime, Democrats, including Senator Hillary Clinton and Charles E. Schumer of New York, expressed concern that as a justice, Ms. Miers might support overturning Roe v. Wade.
Moderate Republicans attacked her lack of judicial experience, with Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, remarking that Ms. Miers could benefit from a "crash course in constitutional law."
Another Republican moderate, Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, said this week that he needed "to get a better feel for her intellectual capacity and judicial philosophy, core competence issues."
He added, "I certainly go into this with concerns."
Senator Schumer said today that President Bush should take his time in picking a new nominee to replace Justice O'Connor, who has announced her retirement. The selection process, said Mr. Schumer, should include discussions about potential nominees with the Senate.
"One of the real reasons for this mistake was there was no real consultation," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/27/poli
tics/politicsspecial1/27cnd-scotus.html
Posted by Editor at October 27, 2005 12:53 PM
