You are not an intellectual lightweight, my friend.
Although there are those who really want us to believe that we are really the 2nd or 3rd tier in life.
Depends on the group. Among the general population, that's probably true. Amongst the legal community, however, where I know there are minds that are orders of magnitude more brilliant than my own, I am an intellectual lightweight.
It's all a matter of scale in the group. There are times where I may be one of the more intelligent guys in the room. In law school and in the legal community, I can hold my own, but there are certainly sharper minds than mine.
Is Miers a brilliant person? Almost certainly; you don't get to be the White House Counsel if you are a dummy. Is she a brilliant lawyer? Probably. Is she qualified to be one of the top nine lawyers in the country, however? That's the million dollar question.