Bush Accepts Miers' Decision to Withdraw Supreme Court Nomination
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 10/27/2005
Harriet Miers, President Bush's choice to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor, withdrew her nomination Thursday.President Bush said he accepted Miers' decision "reluctantly," placing blame for the withdrawal on calls by senators for access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her time at the White House.
However, opposition to Miers, which had grown in intensity in recent days, had come from many of the president's own supporters, who questioned her qualifications and her ideology.
Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said the circumstances under which the Miers' nomination was withdrawn were troubling.
"The combination of a radical right litmus test and a stubborn White House deprived all of us - from president to Congress to the American people - the chance to fairly assess Miers. That is a state of affairs that no one should celebrate," Henderson said.
Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, said that an independent judiciary was too "vital" to be used to placate a party's base. "An influential segment of the right wing was profoundly disappointed that, with Harriet Miers, the president did not nominate a proven 'movement' conservative who would carry out their political agenda on the bench. They have been clamoring for the withdrawal of Ms. Miers' nomination for weeks. What has happened today is an ominous indication of capitulation to such pressure," Aron said.
Once President Bush's personal lawyer in Texas, Miers had never served as a judge. She was appointed White House counsel in 2004.
Miers' hearings in the Senate were scheduled to start November 7. She was expected to respond Thursday to a second questionnaire from the Judiciary Committee, after her answers to a first questionnaire were criticized by Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy, Vt.
Ralph Neas, president of People For the American Way, urged the president to resist calls for an ultraconservative nominee.
"After this sorry episode, the best way for the President to demonstrate leadership and recover strength would be to choose a nominee with a great legal mind and mainstream legal philosophy who could draw bipartisan support. The President must not let the extreme right dictate his next choice, but instead choose a nominee who can bring us together and maintain a fair and independent balance on the Supreme Court," Neas said.
