Posted on 10/03/2005 10:05:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway
SAN FRANCISCO -- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in San Francisco Monday that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is "clearly a bright, intelligent woman" but that it is critically important to learn more about her views.
Feinstein, speaking outside her San Francisco home, said she wants to question Miers on her views on "the big human questions," including civil rights and gender equality.
Miers, 60, a Texas lawyer who is currently White House counsel, was nominated by President George W. Bush Monday morning to take the place of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Feinstein, a Democrat, is the only woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings on the nomination before deciding whether to send it to the full Senate for confirmation.
Feinstein said O'Connor was a pivotal vote on the court and her successor's votes will be critical in rulings on Congressional authority, a woman's privacy right to an abortion and environmental protections.
The senator said, "A women's right to choose is very important to me."
Miers, who has never served as a judge, worked for a large law firm in Dallas for 27 years and was the first woman president of the Texas State Bar. She joined the White House staff in 2001 and became White House counsel in February of this year.
University of California at Berkeley law professor Jesse Choper said Miers is "really quite unknown" but said he doesn't view her lack of judicial experience as a disadvantage.
Choper said some of the high court's greatest justices, including Hugo Black, William Douglas, Felix Frankfurter and former California governor Earl Warren had no previous judicial experience.
A conservative family-values group, Concerned Women for America, said it was "guardedly optimistic" about the nomination but would wait until the hearing process before deciding whether to support Miers.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said, "Ms. Miers has the burden of demonstrating that she shares Justice O'Connor's commitment to our freedoms and is suitable for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court."
There are more than 9 people at SC. In fact many are young and will be future judges.
I see your point, but seriously doubt she will be prosletizing on the job.
The walk speaks greater than the words.
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