Myth v. Fact on Harriet Miers

The Republican National Committee does a good job separating myth from fact in defending President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

MYTH: Miers Is Not Qualified To Be A Supreme Court Justice. Some of the facts offered to refute this assertion are as follows:

1. Has Addressed Numerous Legal And Policy Questions At The Highest Levels Of Decisionmaking, Most Recently Serving As The Counsel To The President Of The United States.
2. Selected As The First Woman To Become President Of The Dallas Bar Association.
3. First Woman Elected President Of The State Bar Of Texas.
4. Elected First Female President Of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell, At That Time A Firm Of About 200 Lawyers. She Was The First Woman To Lead A Texas Firm Of That Size.
5. In 1997, She Was Named To The National Law Journal's List Of 100 Most Powerful Attorneys.
6. In 1998, National Law Journal Named Harriet Miers One Of The Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers In America.
7. In 2000, National Law Journal Named Harriet Miers One Of The One Hundred Most Influential Lawyers In America.
8. Numerous Senators Urged The President To Pick A Non-Judge For This Opening, including Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
9. Numerous prior appointments to the Supreme Court had no prior service as a judge, including Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice William Douglas, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Justice Felix Frankfurter, Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone, Justice Louis Brandeis and even Chief Justice John Marshall. In all, 38 justices joined the Court without any previous experience as a judge.

Hopefully, the RNC will work as hard for Miers' apppointment as they did John Roberts. It is interesting to note that the Indiana Republican Party launched a full blown grassroots campaign to promote John Roberts' nomination because he grew up in Indiana. A check of the website for the Republican Party of Texas finds no words of support for fellow Texan Harriet Miers. Instead, the site is sadly focused on defending the corrupt and now-indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and supporting a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriages. The White House needs to put a call into state GOP chairwoman, Tina J. Benkiser, to lend some support for Miers. On a good note, both Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn of Texas have publicly expressed their support for Miers.