From MOveOn.org ABout Miers

[Miami Vice]

Dear MoveOn member,

This morning, President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. Miers is a long-time political appointee, campaign counsel, personal lawyer and Bush loyalist who has never served as a judge.

Ex-FEMA Director Michael Brown taught us that vital national positions must be filled with qualified candidates, not political friends with limited experience. With such a thin public record, how can Americans know Harriet Miers' approach to critical issues like corporate power, privacy and civil rights?

Right now we urgently need more information, and we need your help to get it. In the next few hours the Internet will fill with facts, anecdotes and rumors about Harriet Miers. We need your help to sort through it all, select the relevant and important details, and let us know what you find—decentralized, grassroots research.

We've set up a simple web form where you can post facts and sources that will fill out the picture on what kind of Supreme Court justice Miers would be. We'll get your research to the media, the Senate and our partner groups. This info will also be crucial in setting MoveOn's course for this nomination. Even if you just have a few minutes to spare, it could help a lot at this crucial time.

You can post facts right now at:

http://www.political.moveon.org/judgefacts?id=6078-5096225-8bfkMH25uLFZBvLnzzfuJQ&t=3

Here is a quick chronology of Harriet Miers' career, courtesy of the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary, to help jump start your research.

1970—Graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School 1970-1972—Clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Joe Estes 1972-2001—Joined Texas law firm, Locke, Purnell 1985—Elected president of the Dallas Bar Association 1986-1989—Member of the State Bar board of directors 1989-1991—Elected and served one term on the Dallas City Council 1992—Elected president of the Texas State Bar 1993-1994—Worked as counsel for Bush's gubernatorial campaign 1995-2000—Appointed chairwoman of Texas Lottery Commission by Gov. George Bush 1996—Became president of Locke, Purnell, and the first woman to lead a major Texas law firm 1998—Presided over the merger of Locke, Purnell with another big Texas firm, Liddell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill & LaBoon, and became co-managing partner of the resulting megafirm, Locke Liddell & Sapp 2000—Represented Bush and Cheney in a lawsuit stemming from their dual residency in Texas while running in the Presidential primary 2001—Selected as staff secretary for President Bush 2003—Promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy 2004—Selected as White House Counsel

There are many important questions that need to be addressed, including:

What policies did she advocate for on the Dallas City Council? What was her record at the head of the scandal-ridden Texas Lottery Commission? What cases did she take on while working as a corporate lawyer in private practice, and what positions did she fight for? What has she written or said in and outside of her law practice about her views on constitutional issues like privacy, the "commerce clause" or equal protection As White House councel Alberto Gonzales played a pivotal role in softening America's stance on torture. What positions has Harriet Miers advocated for in the same role? Has she ever publicly distanced herself from George W. Bush? It's important that we move quickly in answering these questions. The Bush spin machine has been prepared for this nomination for some time and is already cranking at full speed. The strategy is to move Miers through as an enigma. We need to make sure the facts about her views are known.

This kind of decentralized research may never have been tried before at this scale. But a Supreme Court nominee with a record only the president really knows is a new national challenge. If we act quickly, we can meet that challenge together.

Please pitch in by taking some time to research today, and post what you find at:

http://www.political.moveon.org/judgefacts?id=6078-5096225-8bfkMH25uLFZBvLnzzfuJQ&t=4

Thanks for all that you do,

–Ben, Marika, Rosalyn, Joan and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team Monday, October 3rd, 2005

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

[GregoTX]

Wow .... It seems Moveon and Freerepublic have something in common. I have been watching FReepers freak out all day over the nomination. Some FReepers got so upset, they lost control and were zot'ed. Now we find out the lefties dont like her either?
Very interesting. I think everyone can relax, President Bush has done a good job in picking judges since he took office.

[Lancey Howard]

Maybe I will "create" some research and send it in.

lol

[BigSkyFreeper]

What was her record at the head of the scandal-ridden Texas Lottery Commission?

She cleaned up the Democratic mess permeating it.

[Bonaparte]

This guy was never a judge either -- until President Lincoln appointed him to the Supreme Court, as Chief Justice! A point Miers and others can raise if democrats are foolish enough to make an issue of it.

[Graybeard58]

Some FReepers got so upset, they lost control and were zot'ed.

[Bonaparte]

LOL! Looks like Rehnquist himself was not a judge when Nixon appointed him to the Supreme Court.

Also, from the same article --

The majority of members named to the court since 1900 have not been judges.

[FlingWingFlyer]

HURRICANE HARRIET SMASHES D.C.

25,000 Feared Dead

What a day it's been.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Knock me over with a feather, I'm on the same side as moveon.

I don't think third-string lawyers should be on the Supreme Court. If her name was Harry Miers and she wasn't the only person that I know of that has described W as "the most brilliant person I ever met," she wouldn't get the appointment.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Mike Darancette]

Is Larry Flynt behind this?

Or, Move-On could just lurk here on FR for all the dirt they need.

[A.Hun]

If I was you, I would never publicly admit that. :)

[Bonaparte]

Oops! Here's another guy who was never a judge, yet was appointed to the Supreme Court by a president who had spent most of his career as a judge.

[whenigettime]

Okay, now I can sleep. Miers is pro-life and a used to be pro-choicer, that means her belief system has changed and she now uses her brain to make decisions and not her feeeelings.

[Deb]

How is she "third string"?

[Bonaparte]

Only a third-stringer would become the first woman to preside over the Dallas bar, the Texas bar, one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in Texas and, as Chief Counsel to the President, oversee and direct the White House legal department while serving as the President's chief legal advisor.

What a loser!

[Harrius Magnus]

It seems to be a long standing tradition to appoint folks to SCOTUS without experience as a judge. Now if we could just go one step further and appoint an American who hasn't been tainted at all by the Law School Loonies who pervade our centers of higher learning... I like Glen Beck's idea, let's appoint a Midwestern farmer. Just a simple "that ain't right" or "sounds good to me," in the written judicial opinions. Oh could you imagine the mortified howl from the Leftists? It gives me goosebumps. I would argue that law school only serves to obscure the difference between right and wrong. Here's our farmer deliberating one picture of a 32 wk fetus with a vacuum suction into the cranium, one naughty film of Adam and Steve on their honeymoon night...

[CharlesWayneCT]

We should just point them to the big "we hate Miers" thread. It's got lots of misdirection and misguided "research" for them.

[Bonaparte]

I wouldn't object to a farmer or a mechanic or a laundromat owner serving on the USSC, as long as he could demonstrate a thorough understanding of the law and the courts.

I think you're right that law schools offer fertile breeding ground for the kind of arrogance seen in a Bill Clinton or an Ira Magaziner. But it's ultimately up to the individual, as shown by the way Clarence Thomas and Mark Levin turned out.

[andie74]

Tried reading this to husband, and I couldn't stop laughing!

You are one funny marauder!

[Coleus]

moveON

move over


bush won, now get OVER it. the clintons and the democrat dynasty in the house are Over.

crybabies and whiners, mean-spirited, sore losers and very divisive.