October 17, 2005

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF-EXECUTIVE-OFFICER:

Forget Roe and the Framers. Let's Talk Business (Lorraine Woellert, October 16, 2005, Washington Post)

Conservative howling over Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers echoes unabated since President Bush introduced his friend and confidant to the public on Oct. 3. If anything, the clamor has intensified, with some in the conservative chattering class now hounding Miers to withdraw. But while Bush dodges the brickbats, another critical element of the Republican political base is applauding from the wings.

That would be big business. For the first time in more than three decades, corporate America could find itself with not one, but two, Supreme Court allies with in-the-trenches industry experience -- Miers and newly minted Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. Don't be fooled by the low-key personas they have projected thus far; both are legal wonks who have packed a powerful punch in the corporate world. Together, they could be a CEO's dream team.

You wouldn't know it listening to the punditocracy, which is fixated on Miers's record -- or lack thereof -- on hot-button social issues. Bush is scrambling to quell this uprising by touting Miers's loyalty and Christian bona fides while the White House dispatches defenders to reassure his conservative base that she won't be Souter in a skirt.

Lost in the bitter brouhaha over abortion, gay marriage, God and the flag is another important facet of the Supreme Court debate: Miers has a blue-chip résumé that would wow Wall Street. Her record on constitutional issues is thin, but Miers's top-flight credentials in corporate law are attractive to the CEO-in-chief, who holds an MBA and was himself a businessman before being elected governor in Texas.


We're rapidly approaching the point where the only objection to Ms Miers is her faith.


MORE:
An 'evangelical seat'? (LA Times, October 17, 2005)

AFTER PRESIDENT BUSH acknowledged that Harriet E. Miers' religious beliefs were among the reasons he nominated her to the Supreme Court, White House spokesman Scott McClellan reassured reporters that the nominee's faith would play no role in her decision-making on the bench. [...]

[Liberal groups] fear that, if confirmed, Miers' evangelical Christian faith would dictate her rulings. In particular, they are concerned that the president's acknowledgment of his nominee's evangelism was his way of signaling her opposition to a constitutional right to an abortion as established in Roe vs. Wade. They view religious affiliation solely as a proxy for ideology.

There is no reason to doubt that the White House was indeed trying to shore up its nominee's street cred as a reliable conservative by noting her religion, but something else may also be at play. Among white Americans for whom the memory of a distant homeland has long faded, religious affiliation often represents more than a private faith. It is a social identity akin to an ethnicity. A generation ago, Christian evangelicals were largely viewed as part of the broader white Protestant majority; today, they increasingly identify and organize themselves as a minority group.

In other words, in addition to cronyism, Bush's choice of Miers is a classic example of constituency politics, which has long played a role in the Supreme Court selection process.


And there's no reason we should settle for just one.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 17, 2005 2:38 PM
Comments

The objection to Meirs was always her faith, which is why the nomination was so brilliant, for inviting the other side to attack where they shall do the most damage to themselves.

Bush is saying to the seculariasts, "Bring it on!"

The NRO gang may be afraid that Meirs will do something to "overturn Roe v. Wade" and thereby shift to political balace. For reasons already stated having to do with the way appellate cases are decided, it will be unnecessary, and procedurally almost impossible to do away with Roe.

Whittling away the progeny of Roe will be quite enough to cripple the death industry and bring the abortion regime into line with what the overwhelming majority of Americans approve.

Posted by: Lou Gots at October 17, 2005 3:45 PM

Lou: I do not object to Harriet Souter because of her faith.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at October 17, 2005 10:02 PM

There is no correlation between faith and sound judgment, as Jimmy Carter might have said.

Posted by: curt at October 18, 2005 9:31 AM

Carter's faith served him and us quite well.

Posted by: oj at October 18, 2005 9:35 AM

Carter's faith in what? Himself?

Posted by: jim hamlen at October 18, 2005 10:04 AM
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