Bush made a bad call for nominating Harriet Meirs for the SCOTUS slot. She was a good loyal lawyer for Bush and she knew corporate law well but she knew very little about constitutional law and the problems she'd be facing as a justice. Also, the conservatives didn't like here at all. There were few loyalists but most went after vociferously. The Washington Post gives a good accounting of the break down of the situation. The first two paragraphs tell it all though:

For Harriet Miers, the "murder boards" were aptly named. Day after day in a room in the Justice Department, colleagues from the Bush administration grilled her on constitutional law, her legal background and her past speeches in practice sessions meant to mimic Senate hearings.

Her uncertain, underwhelming responses left her confirmation managers so disturbed they decided not to open up the sessions to the friendly outside lawyers they usually invite to participate in prepping key nominees.

Response

Now comes the tough part. If President Bush wants the support of the people who elected him, he's going to need someone very conservative, very astute and who embraces the evangelical mentality. One of the reason the White House nominated Miers is because they didn't want a war with the liberals. They got one with conservatives instead. So now what happens? The war the White House doesn't need is what. His next nomination will be conservative enough to pass muster and the left and the Democrats will pull out all the stops. In the coming months, Bush will pick someone to replace only the 35th nominee since 1789 not to make it to the court. This is a major loss for the president so he can't afford to take another hit. The problem is he's going to have a relentless, ideological war on his hands. It's almost pathetic for a guy who doesn't really even understand the ideological war.

posted by Stithmeister @ 11:53 PM
 
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