Who Is Harriet Miers?

ABC News ^ | Oct. 3, 2005 | ABC News

[Former Military Chick]

Oct. 3, 2005 — Harriet Ellan Miers is White House counsel and was formerly President Bush's personal lawyer in Texas. She first served in the White House as staff secretary and was deputy chief of staff before she was named counsel upon Alberto Gonzales' transition to attorney general.

When he was the governor of Texas, Bush once publicly introduced Miers as a "pit bull in size 6 shoes."

Born and raised in Dallas, Miers earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics and her law degree from Southern Methodist University. In addition to her legal career, she served one term on the Dallas City Council.

Miers, 60, broke barriers for women throughout her career. She reportedly was the first woman hired by the prestigious Dallas law firm Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely, where she became a successful commercial litigator. She also became the first female president of the Dallas Bar Association in 1985 and was the first woman elected president of the Texas Bar Association in 1992.

Miers met Bush in the 1980s, according to published reports, and she was counsel for his 1994 campaign for governor. He appointed her chair of the Texas Lottery Commission in 1995.

Miers then was president of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell and co-managing partner of Locke Liddell & Sapp before she joined the White House in 2001.

In addition, Miers was named one of the Top 50 Most Influential Lawyers by the National Law Journal in 1998, and she received numerous other awards from groups including the Dallas Women Lawyers Association, the Anti-Defamation League and the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers.

[savedbygrace]

Check out post #53. She's heavily invested in the ABA.

[Tennessean4Bush]

Get a grip.

Sliding down the hillside here looking for something to grab onto. Any suggestions? What are you hanging your hat on?

[mom.mom]

Let the filibusters begin.....please!

[counterpunch]

What Bush needed was a monster battle in the Senate, ending the nuclear option, not a stealth nominee.

If he wanted to get the base behind him and energized before 2006, he should have picked a strict constructionist, he has not done that here.

I agree completely.
After writing a blank check to America's most corrupt city, it's the base Bush needs to be worries about, not the Democrats. Maybe Karl Rove has been too preoccupied with the leak probe to be giving the President good political advice, because the Whitehouse has been tone-deaf lately.

However, One advantage for Bush by nominating a crony is that after 25 years, he knows her views and opinions intimately, though there is very little papertrail to give the Democrats any insight at all. I must disagree with you on the assertion that she is a "stealth candidate", because she isn't in the strictest sense, not like Souter, whom not even the President that nominated him knew who he was.

I think most people were really hoping for Luttig or one of the Ediths, or Janice Rogers Brown. That would have been a fight in the Senate, and one the Democrats would have lost.

What I dislike the most is Bush choosing a crony, and a rather unexciting one at that. Rightfully or wrongfully, It will undermine her legitimacy on the court for years to come, and most especially call into question her objectivity when hearing any case that may involve the Administration.

In a lot of ways the "crony" charge would probably be more effective in shaping public opinion than the usual "extremist, outside the mainstream" and "turn back the clock on women's rights, civil rights" type charges, as those have become predictable, comical cliches.

[wagglebee]

The problem as I see it is that conservatives don't really know anything about her (I could care less if the leftists like her or not). We can't assume that Bush is going to appoint a conservative because he was prepared to appoint Gonzales a few months ago and he clearly is not a conservative.

Hopefully we will here something today from a trusted conservative who actually knows something about how Miers might be on the bench.

[Paradox]

This is going to be an interesting few weeks. Supreme Court picks are like NFL Draft picks, you REALLY don't know what ya got until they've been in the league a few years.. I trust W's judgement more than the wailing horde of blog frenzied internet geeks (hey, I'm one of them geeks!).

[Miss Marple]

What blank check are you talking about? There is no "blank check" to New Orleans.

[sitetest]

Dear Peach,

This is from Wikipedia:

"Though Gore has gradually moved politically further left; he was once a moderate-to-conservative lawmaker. Early in his career, he was pro-life; his Congressional voting record was rated by the National Right to Life Committee as 84% anti-abortion. Through the late 1980s, Gore maintained that abortion destroyed innocent human life. He had adopted a pro-choice position by 1988, when he sought the Democratic presidential nomination. Conservatives have criticized his change as stemming from political expedience rather than conviction."


sitetest

[Howlin]

Yea, I do have a suggestion: wait for some facts.

[LRS]

A little more from Exodus Ministries:

---

The Journey...

From Bondage

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At EXODUS, we recognize that recently released and paroled ex-offenders need help. In addition to their need for intimate knowledge of the saving grace of Jesus Christ, these individuals and their families also need a sense of belonging and acceptance. Most need a place to live. Some need counseling, including treatment for drug and alcohol dependence. All need Christian fellowship.

In its six-month intensive, resident program, at it's 20-unit apartment center, EXODUS reaches ex- fellowship, counseling, arrangements for housing and food, and a supportive church home.

To Promised Land

Stability. Maturity. Strength of character. EXODUS seeks to instill these traits in its residents through Bible study and discipleship training. As families reunite, the program nurtures healthy family relationships.

To begin a journey of personal and financial freedom, residents receive assistance in finding jobs. They also participate in staff and volunteer led classes designated to help them learn to manage everything from their addictive behaviors, and low self-esteem, to their diets and budgets.

From captivity through the wilderness and on to personal and spiritual freedom, EXODUS' commitment is to help ex-offenders and their families find purpose, perspective and promise for the future.

http://www.exodusministriesinc.com/exodus.htm

[oblomov]

>The opponents have "misunderestimated" the President yet again.


So have his former supporters, like myself.

[Miss Marple]

Cite your references for the following:

1. Bush was prepared to appoint Gonzalez a few months ago.

2. Gonzalez isn't a conservative.

I will be waiting. Most of you guys just SAY stuff without any evidence at all. I want to see some PROOF for what you just posted.

[johnny7]

And most of the hysterics are male posters, which I also find interesting.

Well well... isn't THAT special! Dry up and blow away.

[thegreatbeast]

You are not reading clearly.

Excuse me but I read quite clearly: She also became the first female president of the Dallas Bar Association in 1985 and was the first woman elected president of the Texas Bar Association in 1992.

But thank you for enlightening us about the relationship, or lack of one, between the bar associations.
Still, I wish more of us could share your optimism about this nominee and this president.

[oblomov]

>his real loyalty is to the coporate wing of this party...

Yes, very true.

[Miss Marple]

LOL! Got under your skin with that one, didn't I?

I have been here a long time, and I am not going anywhere.

Continue your handwringing. I am amused to see what other hysterical posts I will read today.

[ConservativeWarrior]

Another DUer! How transparent!

Exactly. Just like all of the talk radio callers who start with "I'm a long-time Bush supporter, and I love the GOP, BUT....."

The fact remains that Bush was, and still IS, the best choice of the past 2 elections. If this DU troll was "fooled" like "millions of others," who, I wonder should we have voted for? Kerry, right? LOL!

[Tennessean4Bush]

Yea, I do have a suggestion: wait for some facts.

I agree to suspend my leap off the bridge of hope into the sea of despair until all the facts are in. However, Bush provided me with some facts by the pick itself, did he not? I will hope that facts emerge that make me more comfortable with the pick.

Meantime, this woman has no record suggesting she is of the caliber of Scalia or Thomas. Bush, when he asked for my money to help him get re-elected promised to nominate justices like Scalia or Thomas. They are out there. There are ones that have good records that won't be a crapshoot.

Bush knows her heart. Kind of like he knows Putin's heart. Right?

[Paradox]

I am another disappointed conservative

Sure you are, welcome to FR anyways.

[wagglebee]

You are correct, there are no sources about Gonzales being the pick because it was mainly speculation. However, there are more than enough sources about him being pro-abortion.

The issue with Miers is that there are NO SOURCES for anything. So, let's not cloud this issue with what is now pointless bickering about some other person's politics. One thing I do know is that she gave money to Al Gore in 1988 when he was running for president, you can check that for yourself at newsmeat.com.