.... To assume, however, that Bush is engaged in cronyism because he passed over these individuals for another qualified individual, one whose judgment he is familiar with personally rather than merely as a matter of reputation, is a disservice to both Miers and the president. It also ignores history. Justice Clarence Thomas is among the justices currently revered by conservatives for his service on the Supreme Court, and deservedly so. Yet at the time of his nomination, it would have been difficult to finger Thomas, only recently appointed to the Court of Appeals, as the nation's preeminent jurist, legal scholar,...