Wolf D. Fuhrig

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Ambushed From The Right

"In selecting a nominee [for the Supreme Court],” said President Bush, “I've sought to find an American of grace, judgment, and unwavering devotion to the Constitution and the laws of our country. Harriet Miers is just such a person. I've known Harriet for more than a decade. I know her heart. I know her character."

Notes received from the White House by The New York Times, in response to formal requests, reveal the close relationship between Ms. Miers and the President. Two examples: In January 2003, she wrote: “Just a quick note to say how cool it is that you picked Brownie to head FEMA. There is nothing like having someone you know and trust in a top job. Your gut is the best judge ever.” Two months ago, Harriet reassured her boss during his vacation in Crawford, Texas: “I’ve half a mind to come down there myself and chase that witch, Cindy Sheehan, off your property, with an injunction!! Yours, with you in Christ, Harriet.”

Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), explained the Miers nomination: “President Bush selected Ms. Miers after embarking on a thorough and deliberate thought process.” Mehlman did not detail the particular considerations that went into the President’s thought process.

Mr. Bush, Ms. Miers, and the RNC chairman obviously had high hopes that all Republicans and many Democrats would welcome Ms. Miers’ nomination, just because her record seemed to free of any objectionable statement or occurrence. Within a day, however, it became clear that they had badly misjudged the expectations of the Party’s right wing.

An early assessment of the conservative reaction by Marion Edwyn Harrison, the president of the Free Congress Foundation, asserted that “The largest single group is negative. The next largest group is let’s-wait-and-see. But much of the let’s-wait-and-see is quite skeptical. The smallest is affirmative.”

“ People are mad,” observed direct mail consultant Richard Viguerie. “They feel they have been insulted.” Judge Robert Bork, whose nomination to the Supreme Court in 1987 the Senate rejected, called Ms. Miers a “disaster,” columnist Ann Coulter dismissed her as a “complete mediocrity.” Columnist Charles Krauthammer and William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, called upon the President to withdraw Miers’ nomination.

On Capital Hill, Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that Miers take a “crash course” in constitutional law. Senators Trent Lott of Mississippi and Sam Brownback of Kansas hinted that they might oppose Miers’ nomination. Manuel Miranda, a former judicial adviser to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was blunt: “I think she is unconfirmable.”

Although Ms. Miers is known to be a born-again Christian and a loyal member of Valley View Christian Church in Dallas, Jan LaRue, the chief counsel for the evangelical group “Concerned Women for America” announced: “We do not believe we have learned anything more about Miss Miers that justifies endorsement.”

Not every evangelical leader rejected Miers’ nomination. Pat Robertson and James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, expressed their support. On his radio program, Dobson revealed that Carl Rove, the President’s senior adviser, had talked with him about Harriet Miers. Said Dobson: “When you know some of the things that I know--that I probably shouldn’t know--, you will understand why I have said, with fear and trepidation, that Harriet Miers will be a good justice.” And he added: “If I have made a mistake here, I will never forget the blood of those babies that will die on my hands to some degree.” On hearing that Dobson had privileged information from Rove, Democratic Senator Charles Schumer promptly demanded that Dobson tell the Senate Judiciary Committee publicly what it is he “probably shouldn’t know.”

In the meantime, the President resolutely defended his nomination: “No, she is going to be on the bench, she’ll be confirmed. And when she’s on the bench, people will see a fantastic woman who is honest, open, humble, and capable of being a great Supreme Court judge.”