White House Stands Behind Miers Nomination

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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WASHINGTON – Faced with tepid support from Senate Republicans and a new wave of attacks from conservatives, the White House said yesterday that it would not consider withdrawing the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.


In opinion pieces, conservatives have criticized President Bush for nominating someone without a clear conservative record and, later this week, they will form a nonprofit group aimed at forcing the president to withdraw the 60-year-old White House counsel’s name.


Asked yesterday if Mr. Bush is considering withdrawing the nominee, an administration spokesman, James Dyke, said he is not. Mr. Dyke said reports of a White House political director, Sara Taylor, reaching out to conservative activists in an effort to put together a contingency plan were “false.”


An editorial published in the Wall Street Hournal last Thursday came out against Ms. Miers after an earlier editorial urged readers to give her a chance. A Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist, George Will, issued his second critical column about Ms. Miers over the weekend.


Democrats showed signs yesterday that they are readying an offensive. Senator Schumer, a Democrat of New York, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Ms. Miers does not have a majority of the votes on his committee or in the full Senate. “I think you have concern on these three areas: qualification, independence, and judicial philosophy, by people of both parties and all political stripes.” Mr. Schumer said,


Mr. Schumer’s comments contrasted sharply with his initial remarks about Ms. Miers, when he expressed relief that the nominee was not one of the several conservative jurists he had fought to keep out of the federal Court of Appeals.


A conservative author and former speechwriter for Mr. Bush, David Frum, said he plans to step up his critique of Ms. Miers this week with a Web site aimed at building opposition to the nominee. Mr. Frum said he is skeptical about White House denials of a contingency plan.


“The story we hear is that there are people inside the White House actively reconsidering the Miers nomination,” Mr. Frum said. “The right thing is so obvious – to withdraw the nomination and start the process over again. But I can’t predict what they’re going to do.


A conservative icon whose nomination to the High Court was rejected by a Democratic Senate in 1987 and who has criticized Ms. Miers, Robert Bork, said he pities the former Dallas attorney.


“I’d like to see her nomination withdrawn,” Mr. Bork said yesterday. “I feel sorry for the poor lady because I think she got thrown into something she wasn’t prepared for, which I think is a great disservice to her. She isn’t really qualified, and there isn’t any point in putting her through this meat grinder.”


Mr. Bork said he would not seek to thwart the nomination or support groups that seek to do so. He also said he would not testify against her at the hearing, scheduled to start November 7. “If they want to do that, that’s up to them,” he said. “I’m not going to join them.”


A Republican of Texas who sits on the Judiciary Committee and who has been a staunch defender of Ms. Miers, Senator Cornyn, criticized Mr. Schumer for predicting a vote count. “Before the gavel has even fallen on the first day of hearings, my colleague has already determined the outcome,” Mr. Cornyn said. “Fairness alone should dictate that senators withhold judgment.”

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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