Free Republic

When in 1962 Edward Moore Kennedy ran for his brother's seat in the Senate, his opponent famously said that if Kennedy's name had been Edward Moore, his candidacy would have been a joke. If Harriet Miers were not a crony of the president of the United States, her nomination to the Supreme Court would be a joke, as it would have occurred to no one else to nominate her. We've had quite enough dynastic politics over the past decades. (Considering the trouble I have had with Benjamin and William Henry Harrison, I pity the schoolchildren of the future who will...

Flashback: Obama on Harriet MiersMay 13, 2010 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: This is Barack Obama. This is back in 2005 after Bush had nominated Harriet Miers, who had no judicial experience, just like Elena Kagan, who had not written very much of anything, just like Elena Kagan hadn't written much of anything. I even compared her to a left-wing Harriet Miers. This is what he said back on October 14th of 2005. OBAMA: One thing that I do think is important is that the White House recognize that in the absence of any judicial record on her part, in the absence...

WASHINGTON — Karl Rove and Harriet E. Miers, top former aides to President George W. Bush, will testify under oath to a House committee investigating the firings of nine United States attorneys in 2007, under an agreement announced Wednesday by the panel. The agreement settled a rancorous dispute that began in mid-2007 when the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Mr. Rove and Ms. Miers, who, according to e-mail messages released by the Justice Department, played a role in the firings.

Former top Bush aides Karl Rove and Harriet Miers agreed Wednesday to testify before Congress under oath about the firings of U.S. attorneys, a controversy involving allegations of political interference that grew into a constitutional standoff between two branches of government. The Bush White House had fought attempts to force Rove and Miers to testify, and the agreement — steered by aides to President Barack Obama — ended that dispute. Both the White House and lawmakers, especially now that Democrat Obama has replaced Republican George W. Bush — were leery of having a judge settle the question about the limits...

Top aides to U.S. President George Bush can be subpoenaed to testify before a congressional committee, a federal court in Washington ruled Thursday. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected White House arguments that former presidential counsel Harriet Miers and current Chief of Staff Josh Bolten have absolute immunity from testifying before Congress. The House Judiciary Committee filed suit after the two, citing executive privilege, refused to testify in the committee's investigation into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. Regarding Miers's claim of absolute immunity, the court wrote, "The (executive branch's) current claim of absolute...

President Bush doesn't hesitate to kick Congress around, but Congress just can't bring itself to kick back. During oral arguments yesterday about whether a federal judge should enforce congressional subpoenas against a belligerent White House, representatives of the judicial and executive branches both noted that Congress hasn't exercised its full constitutional powers. As Del Quentin Weber writes in The Washington Post, District Court Judge John D. Bates suggested that "the House could take other actions to compel the testimony. For example, the judge said, the House could order [White House Counsel Harriet] Miers's arrest and detention in a cell in...

The House Judiciary Committee filed suit Monday to force former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten to provide information about the firing of U.S. attorneys. The lawsuit filed in federal court says Miers is not immune from the obligation to testify and that she and Bolten must identify all documents that are being withheld from Congress. In a statement announcing the lawsuit, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said, "We will not allow the administration to steamroll Congress." Conyers said he is confident the federal courts will agree that the Bush administration's claims...

Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Friday rejected referring the House's contempt citations against two of President Bush's top aides to a federal grand jury. Mukasey says they committed no crime. Mukasey said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers were right in refusing to provide Congress White House documents or testify about the firings of federal prosecutors. "The department will not bring the congressional contempt citations before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute Mr. Bolten or Ms. Miers," Mukasey wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The House voted two weeks ago...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked for a grand jury investigation into whether White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress. Pelosi is demanding that misdemeanor charges be pursued against Miers for refusing to testify to Congress about the 2006 firings of federal prosecutors, and against Bolten for failing to turn over White House documents related to the purge.

House Democrats Target Bolten, MiersBy Dan Eggen and Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, January 14, 2008; Page A03 Democratic leaders are preparing to launch the second session of the 110th Congress this week with a partisan shot, hints of conciliation and some serious procrastination. In its first couple of weeks after it returns tomorrow, the House is likely to take up contempt-of-Congress resolutions against White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers for their refusal to appear before Congress for questioning about the 2006 removal of nine U.S. attorneys, Democratic...

Everyone is missing this... Why is Huckabee gaining ground? Answer--Harriet Miers. The nomination of Miers confirmed a sneaking suspicion held by many Christians and social conservatives that many Republican politicians aren't really concerned about pro-life issues or about opposing the homosexual "rights" lobby. This wing of the party suspects that many GOP candidates only pay lip-service to these concerns to get social-conservative votes. The fear is this: when push comes to shove, politicians will distance themselves from these views and throw those who voted for them under the bus. In this regard, the Harriet Miers fiasco was a HUGE blunder....

The House Judiciary Committee, in a straight party-line vote, approved a contempt resolution against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, setting up a constitutional battle between the Bush administration and Congress over executive privilege. After several hours of skirmishing over whether to send a contempt resolution to the House floor, the committee voted by a 22-17 margin to approve the measure. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders will now have to decide if and when to hold a vote by the full House on the resolution. A vote could take...

WASHINGTON - House Democrats proposed a contempt citation Wednesday against two White House aides who have refused to comply with subpoenas on the firings of federal prosecutors.Democrats argued that Congress has nothing to lose by forcing a constitutional showdown with the Bush administration over the protracted controversy that has engulfed the Justice Department and jeopardized Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' job. "If we countenance a process where our subpoenas can be readily ignored, where a witness under a duly authorized subpoena doesn't even have to bother to show up, where privilege can be asserted on the thinnest basis and in the...

WASHINGTON — A House panel cleared the way Thursday for contempt proceedings against former White House counsel Harriet Miers after she obeyed President Bush and skipped a hearing on the firings of federal prosecutors. Addressing the empty chair where Miers had been subpoenaed to testify, Rep. Linda Sanchez ruled out of order Bush's executive privilege claim that his former advisers are immune from being summoned before Congress. The House Judiciary subcommittee that Sanchez chairs voted 7-5 to sustain her ruling. The next step would be for the full Judiciary Committee to issue a finding that Miers, Bush's longtime friend and...

President Bush ordered his former White House counsel, Harriet Miers, to defy a congressional subpoena and refuse to testify Thursday before a House panel investigating U.S. attorney firings. "Ms. Miers has absolute immunity from compelled congressional testimony as to matters occurring while she was a senior adviser to the president," White House Counsel Fred Fielding wrote in a letter to Miers' lawyer, George T. Manning. Manning, in turn, notified committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., that Miers would not show up Thursday to answer questions about the White House role in the firings of eight federal prosecutors over the winter. Conyers,...

Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, ignored White House Counsel Harriet Miers and senior lawyers in the Justice Department when he told the committee last month of specific reasons why the administration fired seven U.S. attorneys -- and appeared to acknowledge for the first time that politics was behind one dismissal. McNulty's testimony directly conflicted with the approach Miers advised, according to an unreleased internal White House e-mail described to ABC News. According to that e-mail, sources said, Miers said the administration should take the firm position that it would not comment on personnel issues. Until McNulty's testimony, administration officials had...

MSNBC reporting the above. Senate Schumer responds, and says "he isn't happy" with the proposal.

Conservatives and liberals alike battered White House counsel Harriet Miers during her 24-day rise and fall as a Supreme Court nominee. Critics questioned her experience, her judicial beliefs and her grasp of constitutional law. Now, preparing to leave the White House more than a year after the ordeal, Miers says she doesn't regret the experience. After being nominated, she heard from childhood friends. Strangers came up to her to say they were happy for her. ''Through the course of the nomination there were some ugly -- I thought unjustified -- comments,'' Miers said in an interview in her West Wing...

White House Counsel Harriet Miers, the Supreme Court nominee who withdrew after a conservative revolt last fall, has allegedly vetoed several recommendations offered by conservatives to fill vacancies on federal courts. The White House would not directly respond to the charge, which was made this morning during a conference call with more than 40 conservative leaders. Two people on the call—whose identities I promised to keep confidential—said they had inside knowledge of the recommended nominees whom Miers nixed.

by Mark Finkelstein April 21, 2006 Advice to any Republican loyalists planning to watch a replay of this evening's Hardball: hide the sharp objects, put the firearms under lock and key, flush any potentially poisonous potions. With beautiful-but-deadly Norah O'Donnell sitting in for Chris Matthews, this might have been the most unrelenting gloom-a-thon since Watergate. Riffing off the latest polls showing W at 33%, it was one guest after another - from Bob Shrum to Kate O'Beirne to a panel of "hotshots" - painting a decidedly unrosy scenario. And just when things couldn't get any more dread, a former Clinton...