WASHINGTON – Criticism of Harriet Miers as an unqualified crony of the president is unfounded, Secretary of State Rice said yesterday, praising the Supreme Court nominee for a “probing intellect” that will make her a great justice.

President Bush earlier this month chose Ms. Miers, a longtime confidante who has never been a judge, to replace retiring Justice O’Connor. Since then, Ms. Miers’s nomination has divided conservatives who support the president and those who say it was a risky choice because she was a blank slate on issues such as abortion and gay rights.

Three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is expected to hold confirmation hearings next month, criticized what they called vicious attacks by the Republican right. They said Mr. Bush had made Ms. Miers’s confirmation more difficult by highlighting her conservative religious beliefs, which was seen as an effort to close a growing split within the GOP.

Senator Feinstein, a Democrat of California, said she remained open to voting to confirm Ms. Miers, citing in part the conservative criticism.

“The way she’s being beaten up by the far right is very sexist. People should hold their fire and give people an opportunity to come before a hearing,” Ms. Feinstein said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”

Ms. Rice said she has worked closely with Ms. Miers, the White House counsel and a former deputy chief of staff, on international legal issues such as a president’s wartime powers.

“She’s got a very probing mind and a probing intellect,” Ms. Rice said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“She is the kind of person who is – if there have been four arguments given, Harriet’s going to look for the fifth,” said Ms. Rice, who was interviewed from London at the end of a diplomatic trip.

Referring to Ms. Miers’s critics, Ms. Rice said, “I think that when they get to know her in the hearings, in the confirmation hearings, that they’re going to see a woman of extraordinary talent, extraordinary integrity, and somebody who would be an extraordinary Supreme Court justice.”

Asked whether she had urged Mr. Bush to select Ms. Miers, Ms. Rice said, “I’m not in the habit of recommending Supreme Court justice nominees to the president.”

Senator Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois, meanwhile, took issue with Mr. Bush’s emphasis of Mr. Miers’s religious beliefs.

“It’s going to make for a very difficult line of inquiry at our hearing, but we have to understand what she’s all about, what her values and beliefs are, so we can make an informed judgment,” said Mr. Durbin, who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Durbin said he did not think Mr. Bush “did her a favor this last week by bringing up her religion as part of the reason why she should be considered positively as a nominee.”