supreme court
Both GOP and Dems Unsure on Miers
By Melissa Charbonneau
White House Correspondent
CBN.com – (CBN News) - Conservative activists are letting the White House know they are disappointed in the President's choice of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court.
Conservatives say that by not naming a well-known judge with strong credentials, the President blew a huge opportunity for a national debate over the Supreme Court and liberal judges.
CBN News got the White House response to the criticism of Miers from the right and left.
The President calls Harriet Miers "a pit bull in size six shoes." Those shoes are pounding the pavement on Capitol Hill, as Miers lobbies the judiciary committee members who could decide her fate.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) commented, “She said, ‘I will be my own person’... I said, ‘Those who are saying they're going to vote this way or that way, or if they know how you're going to vote, are they wrong?’ She said, ‘Absolutely.’”
The administration is fending off attacks from liberals like moveon.org, a group that issued mass e-mails asking the public to help scan Miers record for a smoking gun.
If confirmed, Miers would replace a critical swing vote on the Supreme Court.
CBN News spoke with the President's counselor Dan Bartlett here at the White House, about some of the criticism being leveled at Miers from both sides of the aisle - and the attacks from groups like moveon.org.
"President Bush has called on members of the Senate and all interested parties to have a civil debate,” said Bartlett, “Instead, what we're seeing in these types of developments are political organizations that have a narrow political interest trying to dig up dirt on Harriet Miers, and it's really sad to see this development this early in the process."
Bartlett says that Miers was instrumental in bringing the President judicial candidates for the past five years, and knows what Bush expects.
"We can appreciate the fact, because Harriet Miers is not a judge. There are not available opinions for them to quickly discern her views on the issues. But [what] you can be comforted by is the President, who's been very faithful to the commitments he made when he campaigned in 2000 and 2004, that he'd put people on the bench who share his judicial philosophy of not writing legislation from the bench, but strictly interpreting the Constitution," Bartlett explained.
We also asked Bartlett about Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht’s remarks that Miers' views on abortion "are consistent with evangelical Christians."
"Nathan Hecht knows Miers quite well, over the course of many years,” Bartlett commented, “so I'm not in the position of judging what he has said. But I do know the President does not have a litmus test. What he does have is an understanding of what his nominees should be. And Harriet Miers shares that philosophy. She wouldn't be working in this White House if she didn't share the governing philosophy of this President."
And what about Miers' confirmation hearings?
Bartlett replied, "Well, you must pause a bit when you see somebody as qualified and remarkable in hearings as John Roberts, [and he] still could only get half of the Democratic caucus to vote for him. So that tells you what kind of climate we're working in."
The White House is urging the Senate to give Miers a "civil" hearing, and at least for now, until hearings begin, most senators are holding their fire.
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