White House consigliere Harriet Miers nominated.
She's never been a judge, was the first woman president of the Texas Bar Ass'n, and basically filled in Alberto Gonzalez's slot when he went off to be Attorney General.
Not many people know anything about her or her views.
Excerpts from AP:
Senate Republicans said they would press for confirmation by Thanksgiving — a tight timetable by recent standards that allowed less than eight weeks for lawmakers to review her record, hold hearings and vote.
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Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid was complimentary, issuing a statement that said he likes Miers and adding "the Supreme Court would benefit from the addition of a justice who has real experience as a practicing lawyer."
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Reid had personally recommended that Bush consider Miers for nomination, according to several sources familiar with the president's consultations with individual senators. Of equal importance as the White House maps its confirmation campaign is that the Nevada Democrat had warned Bush that the selection of any of several other contenders could trigger a bruising partisan struggle.
At the same time, Republican strategists who spoke on condition of anonymity said they would have to work hard to assure the support of some of the more conservative Republicans in the Senate.
She's been tight with Bush since the 90s, and she's already getting flak from Operation Rescue, who view the fact that she's a Southern Methodist as an admission that she's pro-abortion, I think.
She's worked pro-bono for a group called Exodus Ministries -- it seems likely that this is a faith-based group that works on helping ex-cons stay out of jail, but there's another group by the same name that helps, uh, cure homosexuals. The ex-con Exodus is based in Dallas, so that's probably the one.
More on Miers over here at Talking Points Memo. Follow the links for more info. |
