I think it is about David Souter.

Souter was a complete unknown and never worked for George H.W. Bush.

Miers has worked for the President for some time, he should know where she stands on things.

I think I recall a certain Eureka College grad who occasionally gets praise from comservatives across the spectrum.

Her roots aren't a bug, they are a feature.

The Eureka College grad came to the Republicans' rescue when they were at their lowest point during and after the LBJ landslide in '64, so he's received a bit of a free pass the way his O'Connor and Kennedy nominations turned out. But while many on the intellectual right enjoyed tweaking their counterparts on the left about Reagan's non-Ivy League education, it's not like they ever would want their kids to go to someplace like that after high school.

My wife, a 1979 SMU law school grad, is not keen on the choice based upon her lack of judicial experience and exposure to key constitutional issues.

Rick, Like Luciferous says, they're a feature, not a bug.

John:

It's not where she graduated from but what she's achieved in the interim.

Conservatives are loath to admit it but it does appear that a good amout of criticism of Miers is that they are hung up on ivy league credentials and background. I agree with those that think that Miers blue-collar background is a plus, not a minus.

Ali:

Not from the party estblishment.

I have not followed this as closely as some of you, but what criticisms I've read had nothing to do with her alma mater or blue collar background. It's that she's had little proven accomplishments to establish credentials about being a constitutional jurist. No matter how good a private lawyer she might be, it's not the same. The Supreme Court should not be a proving ground for journeymen jurists. Complains about cronyism has been banded about a lot. Frankly, she should be rejected on that basis.

It would be better for the country for Bush to appoint a conservative who's respected as a constitutional scholar, and have an open debate and straight up vote yes or no than this.

Souter is, of course, a product of Harvard.

It's not just class and religion -- there's some intellectual snobbery and elitism at work also.

This transformative conservative President notwithstanding, how in the world could the backwards state of Texas EVER produce a REAL conservative? We should just stick to producing energy and petrochemicals, and leave the heavy thinking to David Frum and the "True Conservative" Keyboard Corp of Engineers, right? :)

That this woman knocked down some real barriers to women in the legal profession in Texas is all the more reason to admire her. I don't know what kind of justice she's going to make, but I'm more inclined to trust the Texan President than David Frum.

I agree with keivn.

The "not-qualified" bit is humorous. Does anyone think for one second that any politician is actually going to claim (in public) that a woman who has so many "firsts" on her resume is unsuited to be on the SC?

I'm with both Kevins. Frum has never quite recovered from being bumped from the Bush speechwriting corps. He just had to brag about coining the phrase 'axis of evil' (which has actually turned out to be an albatross for W). The president doesn't appreciate this kind of immodesty. Neither do I. Frum was shown the door for his boasting.

The "constitutional scholar" argument means that we are limiting the Supreme Court to law professors and those with the Ivy League/circuit court clerk/appelate litigator/federal judge background. John Marshall could not meet that standard, it eliminates over half of historic Supreme court judges. It is anti-democratic and horribly elitist. Its also not a particularly conservative view.

While I agree with OJ on the elitism and religion thing, I also think that Frum's intense opposition has to be personal. He was a speechwriter when Miers was Staff Secretary. His paise of her is dismissive and sexist. They must have had some sort of clash. Note that Frum spent only one year in the White House. Very short time in this administration. Something just smells funny.

Bob:

In Frum's memoir he's pretty honest about how uncomfortable the evangelicals made him.

The core of the anti-Miers argument is this, from George Will: The wisdom of presumptive opposition to Miers' confirmation flows from the fact that constitutional reasoning is a talent -- a skill acquired, as intellectual skills are, by years of practice sustained by intense interest.

That's hardly a conservative argument to make, if the Constitution says what it means and means what it says. Will himself, just paragraphs beforehand, performs his own constitutional reasoning and expects us to accept it as legitimate, despite the fact that he's probably had less interaction with it than Miers.

In other words, you've got a bunch of pundits saying, "Only judges (and law professors) are qualifed to reason out the constitution! Oh, and me, too."

Ali --

There are many paths to legal wisdom and enlightenment for a potential Supreme Court nominee, and not all manditorially have to be within a hour's drive of the Atlantic Ocean.

Chris: It is that debate that the Gang of 14 deal robbed us of. Conservative ideas -- and particularly the reining in of activist judges -- win handily in the country, but dare not even be made in the Senate despite its Republican majority.

Robert Jackson went to law school at Albany. Come on, it is silly to criticize her law school alma mater. Criticize her accomplishments.

David:

Tell it to Justice Bork. The debate is unproductive because the Right's positions are so easily caricatured.

John:

I really don't care at all that she isn't an Ivy Leaguer (plenty of excellent colleges outside it) nor that she hasn't had much time in the Beltway (that's probably a plus as is the fact that she's a Christian).

I just think an SC pick ought to have a more impressive record of accomplishment in whatever field they've devoted their career to.

Bottom line, I think there were better candidates around.

"how in the world could the backwards state of Texas EVER produce a REAL conservative?"

I think Owen, Garza and Edith Jones are all Texans and each of them would have gone down just fine with the elitist neocons.

Ali:

What job in the legal profession is more powerful than White House Counsel?

The supreme court?

Bob:

Not if the branches are truly co-equal.

Ali: I meant to mention this yesterday. You are now required to immigrate to the US, as no one outside the country is allowed to have an opinion on the 9th, 10th or 11th Amendments.

David:

Call me a weirdo, but I'd miss the British weather (no hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or freezingly cold winters).

"Miers has worked for the President for some time, he should know where she stands on things."

Bush also claims not to have asscertained her views on Roe v Wade.

I don't give a hoot where she went to law school. It really doesn't make any difference where she went to law school. All law schools are pretty much the same.

What I do care is that she be a committed conservative, immune to the blandisments of the MSM, the legal establishment and the Georgetown cocktail party circut.

Robert, Agree, I think the lack of Washington connection is a big problem. Hope Bush sticks with her. It could be fun.(bleep) Georgetown, and I'm Catholic.