Posted on 10/15/2005 2:37:57 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Supreme Court confirmation battles usually involve excavations of the nominee's judicial opinions, legal briefs and decades-old government memos. Harriet Miers is the first nominee to hit trouble because of thank-you letters.
Miers's paper trail may be relatively short, but it makes plain that her climb through Texas legal circles and into George W. Bush's inner circle was aided by a penchant for cheerful personal notes. Years later, even some of her supporters are cringing -- and her opponents are viciously making merry -- at the public disclosure of this correspondence and other writings from the 1990s.
Bush may have enjoyed being told by Miers in 1997, "You are the best governor ever -- deserving of great respect." But in 2005 such fawning remarks are contributing to suspicion among Bush's conservative allies and others that she was selected more for personal loyalty than her legal heft.
Combined with columns she wrote for an in-house publication while president of the Texas Bar Association -- critics have called them clumsily worded and empty of content -- Miers may be at risk of flunking the writing portion of the Supreme Court confirmation test, according to some opponents.
"The tipping point in Washington is when you go from being a subject of caricature to the subject of laughter," said Bruce Fein, a Miers critic who served in the Reagan administration's Justice Department and who often speaks on constitutional law. "She's in danger of becoming the subject of laughter."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Those who can't write should not be on the Supreme Court. This nominee is a supreme brown-noser, and that is exactly the quality that the Federalist Papers warned against, resulting in the Senate's constitutional role of "advise and consent" on SCOTUS nominations. That the President should have fallen for the most obsequious character since Uriah Heep in "Oliver Twist" does not speak well for his judgement.
Want me to order out for some dim sum? You're likely to be sitting here for a while. :)
Sheesh. As someone who's openly supported this President both here and among friends/family/coworkers, I'm embarrassed by this nomination.
I can only respond in acronyms: LOL! OMG. WTF?
Such as Harriet Miers?
> My answer is in post #29
Sorry, I don't buy it. Not to say that what you allege isn't true. I can believe that opinion writing is an iterative process, certainly. What I am saying is that it is not only "not ideal" to have a justice who doesn't write well sitting on the court, but it detracts from the court's greater mission to expect the other justices to be spending valuable time helping another justice rewrite her poorly written opinions.
Can it be done? Of course it can. But it is inexcusable when there are other better candidates to choose from. I'm not beating up on the President for making the nomination, because it is his to make. But, I am very disappointed in it, and any explanation that Miers is the best candidate for the job appear to be patently false.
Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday had harsh words for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
When asked to comment on Thomas as a possible replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Reid told NBC's 'Meet the Press': 'I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court.
'I think that his opinions are poorly written. I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice.'
So, I see a lot of you are graduates of the 'Harry Reid School of Attack'.
"Umm, it's like, I just wanted to really thank you and Laura for nominating me...cause this is, like, the greatest thing that's ever happened to me!"
Like any good lawyer she is pitching for the team that hired her. If that's the best argument that can be made then she will make it.
Oh spit, the clerks do that.
:-)
I'm stunned.
We actually found something mutually agreeable. Good work!
I give copies to the younguns when they go into high school. Takes awhile before they understand why I gave it to them, but eventually they do understand.
The best argument is that she doesn't belong on the Supreme Court according to any enumerated or implied criteria delineated by this president.
The arguments against her are seemingly endless-and multiply by the hour-whereas I've only stumbled upon one compelling argument for her confirmation.
Namely, that she would be much better on 2nd Amendment issues than most other SC justices.
I'm sorry, but the only possible response to something that garbled and incomprehensible is: "... whaaaaaaa -- ?!?"
"When you can't honestly or intelligently attack the substance of your opponent's point" (the online credo of the flailing and the desperate goes), "attack your opponent, instead." Rather than offer up even a failed attempt at rebutting the article's stated contentions -- and, given the spastic nature of Miers' prose and maladroit logic revealed therein, I can certainly sympathize, somewhat -- you attempt (ineptly) to make us the subject, instead...?
Pfui. If that's truly the sharpest arrow in your quiver... then: you're unarmed, plain and simple. And my conscience simply won't allow me to shoot at those plainly incapable of shooting back.
I would suggest you read the following link. It should dispel this liberal nonsense.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1502907/posts
The strong members of the court play a central role in writing and editing their opinions and in giving guidance and inspiration to their clerks. Do you really think Scalia doesn't think and write for himself, particularly on the most important cases?
I know you've lost when you have to resort to twisting words in replies like that. She's got Teflon, she'll be in like Flint so you'll just have to put it in your shapka and smoke it.
I'm sorry, but the only possible response to something that garbled and incomprehensible is: "... whaaaaaaa -- ?!?"
And my conscience simply won't allow me to shoot at those plainly incapable of shooting back.
Just because my simple point went right over your head completely mystifies me why you would think that is a sign of your superior intelligence. I'll lay it out for you in 'baby talk', epecially for you. Reid made the statement that Clarence Thomas was a embarrassment on the court because he wrote poorly. Is that understandable to you, genius? When you and others attack Miers in the same manner, you are a graduate of the 'Harry Reid School of Attack'. Why is that such a complex 'thought' for you to understand or comprehend. Don't be so quick to pat yourself on the back for being a genius.
I could give a damn about 'poor' writing, if that is the price to pay to have a Clarence Thomas sitting on the court.
If they learned the mechanics of writing.
I thoroughly enjoyed this brief glimpse at your writing skill. I hope you find other reasons to post messages.
I do believe your students are fortunate to be taught by someone with your obvious skill and experience. I'm also fairly certain, you've come across at least a few bright people who were in desperate need of your help. You may even have stumbled upon books on library shelves written by brilliant people in desperate need of a copy editor.
Having worked with a few bright people who lacked basic writing skills, I know the evidence you ask to see is easily found. The scary thing is some of those people hold advanced degrees in their fields. That should tell you what most interested the universities which granted them the degrees.
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