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Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Nominee Harriet E. Miers
G
eorge W. Bush has done it again. From Hurricane Katrina, Americans learned the hard way that Bush had picked his old crony, Mike Brown, to head up FEMA, the national emergency organization. Brown had absolutely no experience, credentials or abilities for the job. So when the national emergency of Katrina occurred, his performance and results were disastrous and he subsequently resigned. I still have not heard an explanation or apology for Bush selecting his crony to head up this vital organization.
W
ith total arrogance and no humility, Bush is now nominating Harriet E. Miers to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. I concede Miers may be light-years ahead of Brown in the brains department, but again it appears her main qualification is that she is an old crony of Bush.
I
can't help but wonder whether the president has really picked the most qualified person to represent his purported philosophy of the law and what kinds of people should interpret it. Frankly, it makes little difference to me what jurists' personal views are, so long as they can exclude them from the deliberation process as they weigh the merits of the cases before them.
M
iers has knowledge and experience as a litigator but is lacking in knowledge of the Constitution and state laws. Her experience and knowledge as a litigation attorney is worlds apart from the experience and knowledge of a Supreme Court justice.
S
he has no experience as a judge in any court. She has no experience in interpretation of the federal laws and the Constitution and in making assertions and decrees. Minimum qualifications for this position should include proven success as a judge at the appellate or appeals court level, which would include experience in interpretation of state or federal laws with subsequent pronouncements and decrees.
M
iers lacks this minimal mandatory experience and knowledge and therefore is frankly just not qualified. Even if she had the qualifications to be considered for this position, we could never allow it because of the obvious conflict of interest of her having been George Bush's personal lawyer.
H
arriet E. Miers' review by Congress is a critical test to determine if the balance of powers in our government actually works or if loyalty to one's political party is so strong that it ignores integrity and honor. This is an issue that is at the very core of our Constitution.
Posted by fm on October 11, 2005 at 12:26 AM