Monday, October 03, 2005
My hope for the Miers vote
The Republican standard for Supreme Court nominees for sometime has been "Is he/she qualified for the Court". It's why they supported Roberts; it's why they voted for Ginsburg (vote was 96-3) even though they disagreed with her politics and judicial style.
However, Miers does not appear to be qualified for Court; in fact, I expect the ABA to not give her a "Well Qualified" rating. It's not just the fact that she's never been a judge; she's also never argued a case before the Supreme Court either.
Nominate a good originalist of any political persuasion and I'll go to bat for them; but nominate someone lacking judicial and Constitutional experience and it hacks me off.
So my sincere hope is that most of the Republicans vote against her so Bush can try again.
Post Script
While that was my hope on the Miers vote, my fear is that she'll be a conservative Living Constitutionist. While this means that she'll probably be a vote to overturn Roe (a penumbra of privacy is a lousy rationale; if we want a right to privacy, let's amend the Constitution) it'll be for the wrong reasons and likely vote for a) criminizaling abortion nationwide (it's not the domain of the feds, i.e., interstate commerce, and should be a state decision) and b) upholding Kelo.
Update
Jonah makes me feel much better: "I have it on good authority Harriet Miers stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. So she's good to go."
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However, Miers does not appear to be qualified for Court; in fact, I expect the ABA to not give her a "Well Qualified" rating. It's not just the fact that she's never been a judge; she's also never argued a case before the Supreme Court either.
Nominate a good originalist of any political persuasion and I'll go to bat for them; but nominate someone lacking judicial and Constitutional experience and it hacks me off.
So my sincere hope is that most of the Republicans vote against her so Bush can try again.
Post Script
While that was my hope on the Miers vote, my fear is that she'll be a conservative Living Constitutionist. While this means that she'll probably be a vote to overturn Roe (a penumbra of privacy is a lousy rationale; if we want a right to privacy, let's amend the Constitution) it'll be for the wrong reasons and likely vote for a) criminizaling abortion nationwide (it's not the domain of the feds, i.e., interstate commerce, and should be a state decision) and b) upholding Kelo.
Update
Jonah makes me feel much better: "I have it on good authority Harriet Miers stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. So she's good to go."
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