Posted on 10/09/2005 9:10:09 AM PDT by Crackingham
In an interview set for broadcast on Monday, leading conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia appears to be defending Harriet Miers against critics who say she doesn't have the qualifications to sit on the High Court.
"I think it's a good thing to have people from all sorts of backgrounds [on the Court]," Scalia tells CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, as the debate rages over Miers' lack of judical experience.
Without mentioning the Bush nominee by name, the conservative legal icon said that the High Court needed someone who had never served as a judge to take the place of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
"There is now nobody with that [non judicial] background after the death of the previous chief," Scalia laments to Bartiromo.
"And the reason that's happened, I think, is that the nomination and confirmation process has become so controversial, so politicized that I think a president does not want to give the opposition an easy excuse [to say] 'Well, this person has no judicial experience.'" Scalia concludes: "I don't think that's a good thing. I think the Byron Whites, the Lewis Powells and the Bill Rehnquists have contributed to the court even though they didn't sit on a lower federal court."
I agree. You are right. The answer is not to put yourself in this position in the first place. Bush's instinct for strategery failed him this time.
Or, the lack thereof...
Add together the evidence viewed fairly (not spun as you have) knocks most of the supports from under the criticism, and that's before any of the hearings.
Unlike many of them, Miers' greatness can't be summed up in a few snappy bullet items on a list. You got to look at the cases she actually argued.
Too old.
Too sick.
Too Nixon.
Too Halliburton.
Too Ford.
Too anything.
Now how do you explain nearly every other prominent member of the Federalist Society who's either on record as opposing this nomination, or remaining decidedly neutral?
If we were liberals he would have backed down two days ago.
You cannot see the disconnect in saying you're convinced you know something about her because you know nothing about her?
Such as?
But he did. He engaged in that fight for those stalled circuit court nominees, and he lost when the Gang of 14 cut his legs out from under him. Don't you think he's either met with or talked to Senators to find out how much strength he has? Heck, Specter already said he wouldn't support anyone who was part of that deal, which excludes JRB and a bunch of others. The RINO Senators have hamstrung him -- that's the reality.
I'd love to see him nominate Alito or JRB, but he just doesn't have the Senate support.
Souter is the default position in this regard, not Scalia.
No, I'm not. Thank God the same "realistic" attitude did not prevail in 1990, or Clarence Thomas would not be on the Supreme Court.
Actually, he backed down from the Liberals when he nominated Miers.
He hasn't prominently mentioned the half dozen stalled nominations.
Don't you think he's either met with or talked to Senators to find out how much strength he has? Heck, Specter already said he wouldn't support anyone who was part of that deal, which excludes JRB and a bunch of others. The RINO Senators have hamstrung him -- that's the reality.
Constitutional principle be buried. That's the reality. I don't like it. I want the GOP to complain when the constitution is subverted.
Yeah, whining "elitist!" and "sexist!" when Miers paper thin resume comes up is getting old. There are plenty of great candidates for SCOTUS wthat didn't have "ivy league" educations (Janice Rogers Brown, Edith Jones, Priscilla Owens, etc.) that would have been perfectly acceptable because they had an OUTSTANDING legal career. It's not the degree, it's what you do with it. Nobody said Lyndon Baines Johnson was "unqualified" for President because his college degree was from Southwest Texas State Teacher's College, but if his "resume" listed his top previous job as Texas Lottery Comissioner, people sure as hell would be reluntant to place him in the top tier of the executive branch of government.
The Miers apologists want to say Miers is just like Rehnquist because Rehnquist had never been a judge when appointed. The argument falls in the face of Rehnquist's oustanding career. Elitist or not, ivy league or not, Rehnquist's legal ablities far outshined Miers.
What people cannot understand is that excellence is not something you get in a cracker jack box or on an ornate diploma. It come from what is in your heart and in your head. In fact, heart mostly, for however brilliant, without motivation and drive you will be a third rate hack. If was Einstein who said the genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
You certainly do not achieve excellence by serving on the Texas lottery commission or proving your ability to schooze with a whole bunch of Texas good 'ol boys and gals.
That is the problem. You think that THAT is what goes on a resume. It isn't. It is a list of job assignments and professional achievements that show you are fit for the job. Maybe someday someone will send out Ms Miers other resume. I expect that is coming shortly. It better have some solid things in it, and not fluff like we are getting from her supporters.
[sarcasm on]
Scalia=RINO
[sarcasm off]
LOL
well it only took 500 posts LOL
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