DUer Rateyes figures out the real reason Bush appointed Miers

[jmowreader]

Attorney-client privilege.

Your average DUer cares about two things in regards to Ms. Miers: her ties to Bush, and her judicial philosophy.

When it comes to philosophy, we'd normally look at previous writings and, if she'd ever been a judge, her written decisions. I care about such things as abortion, school financing, abuse of government power and so on. Miers has only ever practiced corporate law, so unless she did a LOT of pro bono stuff on the weekends she's got no substantial paper trail on personal law. (We can assume all day long that Bush only surrounds himself with RW syncophants whose goal is to overturn Roe, but without the paper we can't prove it.)

Ties to Bush? All professional. Attorney-client privilege is operative.

This one's even more of a mystery than Roberts, and because of the Canons of Judicial Ethics we not only don't know but can't know anything more than Bush wants out.

[aquart]

1. Bush doesn't give a rat's ass about Roe.

What? Did you think Jenna had appendicitis?

[jmowreader]

2. According to Larry Flynt, Bush was pro-abortion...

when HE got a girl in trouble.

[JDPriestly]

3. Does Miers have a background in litigation at all?

Does she have enough experience in court, in trial, even in pre-trial procedures and practice to be effective and fair on the SC? She seems to have spent most of her time in administrative positions. I don't see how that qualifies her to handle the case load on the SC. I doubt that she has the familiarity with case law to do the job. Roberts' confirmation hearing is going to be a very tough act for her to follow.

Based on a quick, superficial look at her resume, I seriously doubt that Miers has the intellectual ability to sit on the Court. Not as bad as Clarence Thomas, but no match for the others on the Court. What has she done? And what qualities did she develop doing what she did? Bar Association President, the Texas Lottery Commission? This is a far cry from Roberts. She's basically a political hack.

Miers' nomination demeans the Court. I disagree with Scalia on virtually everything. He is intellectually dishonest, but at least he has intellect. It looks like this woman is a country club girl scout. The only promising thing about her is the degree in mathematics. It takes some smarts to achieve that. I hope I'm wrong, but this is my take from a superficial look at her resume. She's been president or chairwoman of a lot of things. I suspect she is being appointed to let Roberts take care of the legal side while she takes care of the organizational side of the SC. She's an administrator, not a lawyer, based on her resume. And, on top of it, she has no experience as a judge. Bush can't be serious.

[onenote]

12. from what i've read she is a very accomplished corporate litigator

I don't know anything more about her "judicial philosophy" or her views on various important issues than anyone else. But posts that label her as "incompetent" are far off-base.

My understanding is that she had a fairly stellar academic record, and thereafter received a federal court clerkship, a rarity for a woman in those days. She was the first woman attorney that the law firm that hired ever employed and she was regarded as a top-notch litigator. She was the first woman president of the Dallas Bar Association and the first woman president of the State Bar of Texas. Eventually she became the managing partner of her firm, which grew to over 400 lawyers.The National Law Journal (a reputable publication) named her as one of 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America and one of the 50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America. She has been given awards by, among others, the Anti-Defamation League and received the American Jewish Committee Human Relations Award.
And it is reported that she has taught Trial Advocacy at SMU Law School.

Now maybe all of that is just fluff and the result of being politically well-connected. But the fact is that she appears to have had an above-average distinguished 30 year career before coming to DC. So if we are going to attack her, we need to find substance, not unsupportable claims of "incompetence".

onenote

[JDPriestly]

14. None of this showed up on the bio I read.

It mentioned her extensive political career, her administrative and honorary positions with various bar associations and her work for the Texas Lottery Commission (I think that is what it was called). I'm happy to hear she at least has a background as a litigator. Her filings should give the committee at least a few things to discuss with her.

I still think this appointment is a kind of bonus pension plan that will protect her from inquiries about her role in cleaning up Bush's National Guard history. And, she still reminds me of Mrs. Meers from Thoroughly Modern Millie. I wonder how long it has been since she actively argued cases or wrote briefs and motions.

[onenote]

15. link

https://www.dallasbar.com/members/headnotes.asp?item=330

[gratuitous]

4. Gee, maybe Bush could release her from her confidentiality bond

:rofl:

Yeah, I know.

[Somawas]

5. She's been White House Counsel

and the attorney-client privilege does not apply, thanks to Ken Starr. We talked about this in connection with the Roberts White House coundel papers in the Raygun administration.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Well that just ruins to hell one perfectly good theory n/t

[jmowreader]

9. On the things we wish to know about, ACP does apply

As I pointed out in another thread, I want to know about her role in scrubbing Bush's TANG records. Attorney-client privilege will prevent her from talking about it.

I want to know about her dealings on the Texas Lottery Commission. If she can figure out how to position the TLC as a client, once again ACP applies.

Also remember that she's a corporate lawyer, and any communications, notes or other documents she generated in dealing with her corporate clients are covered under ACP.

Basically, the only things we get to look at are any papers she generated while the White House counsel. She can't have held that job for longer than ten months--from the time TBG became the attorney general to now. She was an attorney in private practice for a very long time; the papers she produced during her stint working for Bush are a drop in the bucket compared to the ones she can claim ACP on now.

[papau]

7. WSJ implies Miers anti-abortion and a Scalia "orginalist"

So is Ms. Miers's not just a judicial restraint/limited role of the court/judicial conservative, she is a Scalia anti-abortion "orginalist" with no respect for precedent?

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB1128351923853585...

<snip>Marvin Olasky, a journalism professor and the father of the "compassionate conservative" movement, posted a series of excerpts from interviews with friends and acquaintances of Harriet Miers he conducted before the official nomination. One of the interviews was with Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht, who said he has known Ms. Miers for 30 years and described their relationship as "very close friends."

Quoting Mr. Hecht on Ms. Miers's judicial philosophy: "She's an originalist -- that's the way she takes the Bible," and that's her approach to the Constitution as well -- "Originalist -- it means what it says."

Mr. Hecht says he and Ms. Miers "went to two or three pro-life dinners in the late 80s or early 90s."<snip>


http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa022701a.htm
Scalia on the Constitution


U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia explained and defended his "originalist" approach to constitutional interpretation in a closing address to a Princeton University conference on James Madison, fourth president and framer of the Constitution.

Speaking on Feb. 23, 2001, Justice Scalia explained that he, like Madison, interprets the Constitution according to the "common sense" meaning and definition of the document's words at the time they were written. An opposite approach, Scalia suggested from that applied by Justices who believe the Constitution "changes from age to age in order to meet the needs of a changing society."

Scalia criticized the second approach, saying that it too often results in crafting subjective interpretations of the Constitution to address issues that could and should be handled by Congress.

Calling his view of the Constitution an "originalist" view, Scalia conceded it often places him in a position of supporting laws that do not seem to make sense.

"It may well be stupid, but if it's stupid, pass a law!" he said. "Don't think the originalist interpretation constrains you. To the contrary. My Constitution is a very flexible Constitution. You want a right to abortion? Create it the way all rights are created in a democracy, pass a law. The death penalty? Pass a law. That's flexibility

<snip>

[Straight Shooter]

8. What's a "pro-life dinner"? One where they don't serve roasted babies?

The term "pro-life" makes me want to hurl.

[Hobarticus]

10. "Anti-free choice" is much more accurate...

Wish I heard it framed that way more often.

[jmowreader]

11. A pro-life dinner...

is where a bunch of pro-lifers get all dressed up to gather at a restaurant where they eat food, drink brandy, smoke cigars and talk about how great it's gonna be when every rapist's pregnancy is carried to term.

"Because you know that when a woman aborts a rapist's baby, she's just taking the rapist's right to be a father away from him. Yeah, I need another drink; pass me another full bottle of tequila, willya?"

[Straight Shooter]

13. That sounds about right.

Until it's one of their daughters or, in some cases, girlfriends.