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It’s been only a few short weeks since then-Supreme Court nominee John Roberts raised the non-answer to a Zen art form, while somehow simultaneously proving himself smarter than each member of the U.S. Senate (and perhaps all of them combined).
Now, however, high court fever is re-emerging (note: high court fever is essentially the same as regular fever, only more likely to induce nausea) with President Bush’s recent nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers as his pick to replace sitting Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (who will remain on the court until her successor is chosen, though her clerks assure the press that she “totally doesn’t care” about any of the cases before the court).
If the initial reaction to Miers’ nomination is expected to be an accurate bellwether of her confirmation process as a whole, she should quickly consider stocking up on canned goods and potable drinking water. Assailed by both the left and right for her lack of experience as a judge, her longtime standing as a close associate of Bush and her less-than-sterling academic credentials, Miers quickly made the rounds as the newest source of candy on the Washington piñata circuit.
Taken individually, none of these factors seems adequate to seal the fate of the woman who would be the next judicial wraith. There have been other non-judges appointed to the Supreme Court over the years, though most of them had previous experience more germane to the duty than overseeing the Texas lottery’s Daily Pick 3. Being a workplace sycophant obviously can’t be a job-killer in our nation’s capital (though being one as insipid as Miers should be). Similarly, the lack of an Ivy League credential shouldn’t single-handedly torpedo otherwise competent nominees. Miers attended Southern Methodist University. Even New York Sen. Charles Schumer (who challenged the nominee to fistfights several times in the course of the Roberts confirmation hearings) praised the selection of a nominee whose academic credentials originated from outside the “evil eight,” despite being a Harvard Law graduate himself.
What then should we make of the woman who the president infamously referred to as “a pit bull in size 6 shoes” (just one more example of the commander-in-chief’s propensity for spontaneously spinning verbal gold worthy of Virgil)? One could listen to the recommendation of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, who, in an otherwise laudatory speech, slipped in the pronouncement that Miers needed “a crash course in Constitutional law.” For those Americans who haven’t spent the past five years in a coma, it should be adequately clear at this point that allowing the Bush administration to pursue any more objectives through a “crash course” is like leaving your toddler at home with nothing more than a book of matches, kerosene and a fire extinguisher and hoping they learn how to use all three.
Then there are the remarks of Robert Bork, the Reagan nominee to the court who was rejected by the Senate in 1987, who referred to Miers as “a nominee with no visible judicial philosophy who lacks the basic skills of persuasive argument and clear writing.” This indictment is only buttressed by Miers’ recent performance on a Senate questionnaire in which she provided one-word answers to several multi-part questions.
If Miers was truly first on the president’s short list, we can only infer that his Scottish terrier, Barney, will be the nominee if there becomes another opening on the court or if Miers’ candidacy is met with the unadulterated defeat it merits (though Barney is probably unconfirmable because of his strong opposition to the establishment of the principle of “clear and present danger” in Schenck v. United States).
America now has a rare opportunity to reaffirm the idea that the Supreme Court can continue to function as the nation’s last true meritocracy. But remaining true to that promise will require some sacrifice, the first of which certainly must be that of the president and Miers in withdrawing a nomination that is an insult to the very institution to which it aspires.
Submitted 10-27-2005
MALIBU, CA
