[jdm]

"William Rehnquist had never been a judge before his appointment."

Yes, however, Rehnquist had SCOTUS experience and, while there, in his early years, was provided with a continuous education in regard to constitutional law (served as a law clerk for SCOTUS Justice R. Jackson). As a clerk, Rehnquist was an apprentice, an internal, behind-the-scences observer to the SCOTUS. It goes without saying that Rehnquist had a depth of background and experience with constitutional law not, by any stretch of the imagination, matched by Miers.

[Dog Gone]

Constitutional law isn't that hard. I hate to break this fact to the general public, but it's true. There's no doubt that the amount of case law on it is huge, but even the three-prong tests that the court has set up to evaluate certain issues aren't that terribly complicated.

What matters is your philosophy in addressing those issues.

I still don't know why my law school grade in Federal Income Taxation Law, which I hated and still don't understand, slightly beat out my Con Law grade. I could answer those senators all day without looking at notes, and my job today doesn't involve constitutional law very often at all. Maybe once every ten years.