So, school has been pretty intense lately, and I haven’t been posting much about events happening outside of school for quite awhile. However, this doesn’t mean I’ve stopped reading the paper. The news of the day is that Harriet Miers has stepped down from her controversial nomination to the Supreme Court, and I, for one, and quite pleased about this. I mean, c’mon, people: this is a woman who had absolutely NO experience as a judge. She’d never served on any circuit. According to today’s BBC article on the subject, the written answers she gave in response to her initial questionnaire were “incomplete to insulting”, and required a Senate reprimand. Her biggest selling point was the legal work she’s done for Bush and his campaign over the years, but given Bush’s tendency to promote personal friends into positions of power that they’re unqualified for (such as Mike Brown, who’s experience prior to heading up FEMA included presiding over the International Arabian Horse Association), that’s not very reassuring at all. Then, of course, there was VP Dick Cheney’s chilling words to Rush Limbaugh during a radio interview, where Vice President Cheney was quick to assure ultra-conservative Rush “I’m confident that she has a conservative judicial philosophy that you’d be comfortable with, Rush,” and ending the interview with the following words: “You’ll be proud of Harriet’s record, Rush. Trust me.” (Radio Address, 10/5/05.) Riiiight. Don’t know about you, but that certainly sent shivers down my spine. The long and the short of it is, after meeting with staunch opposition from both sides of the aisle, she has withdrawn her nomination, ostensibly as a way of trying to preserve the separation of power between the White House and the Supreme Court (and less ostensibly, perhaps to protect Bush from a Senate confirmation hearing that would certainly stray into White House territory and probe into his administration’s record and files).
I do wonder, though: much of the opposition Harriet Miers received from Conservatives was over the fact that they weren’t convinced she was conservative enough. Not conservative enough?? This make me very fearful of whomever Bush will pull out of his hat next as a potential nominee—someone conservative and die-hard enough to satisfy Bush’s fundamentalist base of supporters. Someone, in other words, who will pose a very serious threat to the legality of abortion and women’s access to birth control and reproductive rights in this country. Very very scary. Stay tuned.
