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One thing's for certain about this Harriet Miers mess: The conservative movement can never, ever play the Bork card again. No more whining about liberals tarring-and-feathering Robert Bork in his 1987 Supreme Court confirmation hearing. For two decades, conservative activists have droned on about their spiritual leader's defeat in the Senate. They carry him around on their shoulders as proof of how the establishment's out to get them. Well, forget that nonsense. No more of that cry-babying, not after what conservatives like writer David Frum and organizations like Concerned Women of America — using National Review magazine and The Wall...

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee served notice Wednesday he intends to question Harriet Miers about the Bush administration's policy of detaining suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, injecting new uncertainty into a Supreme Court nomination already in doubt. In a letter to Miers, who is White House counsel, Sen. Arlen Specter also said he would ask what assurances she could offer that she would be independent, if confirmed, "and not give President Bush any special deference on any matter involving him that might come before the court." Specter, R-Pa., released the letter as the White House struggled...

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee served notice Wednesday he intends to question Harriet Miers about the Bush administration's policy of detaining suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, injecting new uncertainty into a Supreme Court nomination already in doubt. In a letter to Miers, who is White House counsel, Sen. Arlen Specter also said he would ask what assurances she could offer that she would be independent, if confirmed, "and not give President Bush any special deference on any matter involving him that might come before the court." Specter, R-Pa., released the letter as the White House struggled...

Senators disagreed yesterday over the Supreme Court prospects for Harriet Miers, with a key Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee saying the nominee would lose a confirmation vote, a prediction dismissed by two of the panel's Republicans, including its chairman. "If you held the vote today, she would not get a majority either in the Judiciary Committee or on the floor," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat and one of the committee's most vocal liberals. Mr. Schumer noted that only a handful of Republican senators have endorsed the nominee. But Chairman Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, called such statements...

White House Hopes Hearings Help Miers Staff and agencies 22 October, 2005 By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 13 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Behind closed doors, the former senator trying to smooth the way for confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers appealed for patience. She is qualified, said Dan Coats, asking that those in the audience wait for hearings before making up their mind. Not that Democrats are lining up to praise the woman President Bush named to succeed Justice Sandra Day O‘Connor Sandra Day O‘Connor.

Released from a gag order, Larry Littwin – the controversial former director of the Texas Lottery under Harriet Miers – is free to appear at the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation hearings to give "potentially explosive" testimony damaging both to President Bush and his nominee, according to WND columnist Jerome Corsi. As WorldNetDaily has reported, Littwin allegedly was fired by Miers because he wanted to investigate improper political influence-buying by lobbyists for GTECH, the firm contracted to run the lottery. Corsi believes that Littwin, according to an examination of hundreds of contemporary Texas newspaper accounts, will be able to establish under...

WASHINGTON - President Bush insisted Thursday that Harriet Miers would win over any skeptics and be seated on the U.S. Supreme Court, even as the embattled nominee worked on a "do-over" questionnaire for irritated senators overseeing the confirmation process. "Harriet will answer all the questions asked," Bush said during a Rose Garden news conference to showcase his visit with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. "Out of this will come a clear picture of a competent, strong, capable woman who shares the same judicial philosophy that I share."

The conservatives' noisy split over the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination has largely obscured the fact that Senate Democrats could control her fate in a way that was never possible in the confirmation battle over Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. While the turmoil on the right offers Democrats a tantalizing opportunity, party strategists said, it also will confront them with a difficult choice: Confirm a conservative with close ties to President Bush, or oppose her and join ranks with hard-right activists who historically are their arch enemies. For now, Democrats and liberal groups have been content to stay mostly...

By the time Senate hearings start in late October or early November, Miers will have completed a crash course in constitutional law. White House officials and others who are familiar with her preparations said she'd paid little attention to the furor over her nomination while concentrating on the task at hand. They dismissed speculation that she might heed calls from some conservatives for her withdrawal. Supporters expressed confidence that Miers' appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee will quiet critics who question her qualifications for the nation's highest court. But they acknowledged that any embarrassing mistakes by the nominee could doom...

Miers's Lack of Judicial Experience Requires Questioning, Specter Says By GARY FIELDS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL October 10, 2005; Page A4 WASHINGTON -- White House counsel Harriet Miers's nomination to the Supreme Court hit more turbulence, as the head of the Senate panel considering her for the post questioned her qualifications and all but ruled out the quick confirmation sought by President Bush. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) said that while Ms. Miers might make an outstanding justice if given the chance, her lack of judicial experience requires that she be closely questioned about...

WASHINGTON - Harriet Miers' qualifications to be a Supreme Court justice and her views on privacy rights will be a focus of her confirmation hearings, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter says. ADVERTISEMENT Miers must show she can handle complicated legal issues and has not cut deals with the White House to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion, Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." President Bush's nomination of Miers, a longtime confidante and White House counsel but never a judge, has caused division among conservatives. A leader of the right said he will not...

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he plans to vigorously question Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers about her qualifications because she has not proved to him she can handle the weighty issues that come before the high court. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he has questions about Miers' grasp of privacy and abortion law. Miers, a corporate lawyer from Texas, is now White House counsel and has never served as a judge. President Bush nominated Miers to fill the seat currently held by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a swing vote on issues from abortion...