Harriet Miers

This morning the President Nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court of the United States. I know many of you must think that I just made a mistake and that I really meant to write the name of one of the dozen or so highly qualified and prove conservative candidates out there. I must have meant to right Luttig, or Jones, or Brown or another of the names we have heard so much about over the last few weeks. But no, I meant to type Harriet Miers and you were right to ask "who on earth is that?"

The honest truth is that none of us really know who she is. I mean anyone can go and look up her history and see her biography but know one really has any deep insight into who she is. Conservative groups have attacked this pick as a mistake. They say that the president is in a weak position and made a weak pick. I have to be honest and tell you that I do not know.

The only solution I can think of is that Harriet Miers needs to waive the Ginsburg rule and give us an unprecedented amount of information about what she will do on the court. John Roberts and even Ginsburg could refuse to answer questions and rely on their past qualifications. Harriet Miers does not have such qualifications and therefore should not be allowed to avoid answering any questions. Republican senators should force her to stand up and say "I believe that the constitution means what it says and nothing else." Republicans on the court must win assurances that Ms. Miers will not become another in a long line of stealth candidates to go very very wrong.

I do not think that right now is the appropriate time for pundits to jump on Miers as being the wrong choice. I do admit that we are sorely lacking in information about this woman but we have a remedy for this situation, we just need to make sure that our repbulicans senators take advantage of it. I, for one, would rather risk a democrat filibuster than accept a nominee who will not strictly interpret the constitution.