Bye Bye Miers

Well, right-wing pundits got their wish.

Now that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination, guaranteeing that she will never get another political job after her tenure as White House counsel comes to an end, I can say that I didn't think she was the best pick for the job.

Do I think she wasn't qualified?  No.  Actually, I think any recent law school graduate who supports original intent is fully qualified to sit on the Supreme Court.  There are no Constitutional requirements, other than to be nominated by the President and consented to by the Senate.  Some of our best Supreme Court justices were barely even lawyers, let alone accomplished judges or scholars.  The greatest Chief Justice in history, John Marshall, was a law school drop out who lost his only case.  Before Oliver Wendel Holmes, there was no real history of academic achievement on the Supreme Court.  Many justices had been pure political hacks put on the Supreme Court to push a President's agenda (can you say Hugo Black?).  So I have no doubt that a 30 year lawyer, president of a state bar association, and White House counsel could make an acceptable justice.

But I do freely admit that there were many other potential nominations I would have liked more.  Now it doesn't matter.

What does matter is repairing the damage.  The President has damaged the Party by choosing poorly.  And the conservative punditry has damaged the Party by turning Republicans against themselves.  I won't look back and dissect this any further because I think we need to move forward rather than further open the wounds.

Now the President needs to move fast and boldly.  He needs to quickly nominate a lightning-rod figure to unite all Republicans and take the fight to the left.  There is no better candidate for this than Janice Rogers Brown.  She has already been through everything the Senate left can throw at her and survived.  Over 60 Senators approved her for the D.C. Circuit just this summer: it would be difficult for enough of them to threaten a filibuster to shift back to the left without looking like partisan hacks.

The problem, of course, is that I believe Janice Rogers Brown has already turned down the nomination.  I have no proof, of course.  This is just suspicion.  But I do think Bush would have asked Brown before resorting to Miers.  A few weeks back, I heard Rush talking about meeting Brown at a Washington event.  He said she was so relieved to be done, that the previous three years had been the worst period of her life, that she was glad she didn't have to put her family through any more of it.  To me, that was a not-so-subtle code for "I am not going to consider the Supreme Court at this time."

Well Janice, it's time to reconsider.  America needs you.  Your President needs you.  Yes, it will be a return to Hell.  But at least we all know that, whatever the outcome would be, it would come relatively quickly.  There would be no three year filibuster.  You would either be elevated to the Supreme Court, or not, within a few short months.  And if not, you still have that lifetime tenure position on the D.C. Circuit.  You have nothing else to lose.

Mr. President, call Janice Rogers Brown.

Comments

[torridjoe]

HA! The LAST thing Bush needs is a SC fight now. The Democrats have held their powder dry on two consecutive nominees, both considered either rational conservatives or flat out moderates.

The Democrats are already (correctly) spinning this as a capitulation to the radical right, who pouted because they couldn't be sure they'd get a 5th vote against Roe. That meme is easily extended and reinforced if Bush picks a wingnut, and makes any fillibuster hard to attack on "reckless partisanship" grounds.

[Sailor Republica]

I'm sorry to say, torridjoe, but you're wrong yet again.

If Janice Rogers Brown got in, and Democrats voted no against her, they'd have a LOT of explaining to do to the black community, their broad base of women voters, and would face the scrutiny of a wary public who have already SEEN what JRB can do.

JRB is the ideal pick, is reasonable, and is the Ace card.

[majordomo]

You wish, Joe. The conservative base is pumped because now they think they are charge again. What Bush needs more than anything is a Supreme Court battle. It will make everyone forget about DeLay, Plame, and even Iraq. It will get his majority coalition, his 64 million votes, back on the same page to fight against the left.

And the single-issue pro-life crowd was solid behind Miers. There is no doubt that, given the chance, she would write the opinion that overruled Roe v. Wade. The problem wasn't with them. The problem was with the original intent/judicial restraint crowd, and everyone knows it.

Miers was supposed to be the nominee that McCain and the gang of 7 would support. Now, they have seen that their opinion doesn't matter. Bush has to nominate someone like Brown, Luttig, or Owen, and the gang of 7 has to play ball. The GOP is being taken over by the small government crowd.

This is the first sign of the death of the left.

[torridjoe]

major, major pissing in the wind here.

The public has NO idea who Brown is. And no Democratic woman's group is going to turn against the party for blocking a pro-life nominee. Get real.

I agree the conservative base is pumped, which is why Bush is in such a pickle. He can't afford to have the party portrayed as in the thrall of the radical right any more than it is. It's a joke to refer to any "majority coalition." The man is running in the 30s, for heaven's sake!

If I was wrong, how come I called her nomination on the ropes this past weekend?

[geoffrey Davis]

Thanks for the info on my miers post, little new to the game...unfortunaly we have a little of the liberal dissention within our own party. I do hope your right about JRB. Lars seems to like her. Thanks for the add to blogroll as well.

[Tony]

Uh, joe, calling her nomination on the ropes last weekend makes you about a month later than the rest of us, who knew the day she was nominated she couldn't get through it.

I agree with Gully and Sailor - the President needs to stop trying to please everyone (a policy which may be over if Rove is out)and go on offense. Appoint Janice Rogers Brown now and show the guts you showed in the first term.

[Gullyborg]

I'd really like to see what happens if a few key Senators oppose Janice Rogers Brown.

Byrd can't oppose her. He helped broker the deal to get her on the appeals court. And he thinks he wants to run again (!) and can't afford the Klan stigma. He has to support the "colored" woman, or else he proves to the world that he is racist.

And now it looks like Corzine is in trouble for getting drunk and talking negatively about blacks in front of a video camera. It may not be true (still a rumor at this point, but in politics perception is reality--ask Bush about the National Guard or cocaine use). So Corzine needs to prove he is no racist.