RSSMiers Nomination is Quashed
In a surprise to none, Harriet Miers has withdrawn her name from consideration for the Supreme Court. The official reason is that Bush wants to protect the sanctity of protected communication in the White House, the real reason is that her nomination was going down to a certain defeat.
“It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House — disclosures that would undermine a president’s ability to receive candid counsel,” Bush said. “Harriet Miers’ decision demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the constitutional separation of powers — and confirms my deep respect and admiration for her.”
Some Bloggers Talking about it.
Rosa Parks R.I.P. 1913-2005
Rosa Parks passed away last night. She was a very special woman who changed the history of the country for the better.
I could go on about what a great woman Rosa Parks was, but our good friend LaShawn Barber has done a fantastic job with lots of links.
Parks’ Legacy Challenges New Generation
Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies
Harriet Miers next Supreme Court Nominee – Sources Reveal
According the to CNN, President George Bush is expected to nominate White House counsel Harriet Miers as the next Supreme Court Justice to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. ABC News has this to say about Miers.
The White House and Miers’ supporters praise her as a trailblazer and a pioneer in the legal field. The first woman hired by the prestigious Dallas law firm Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely, she also was the first female president of the Dallas Bar Association and the first female president of the Texas Bar Association.
Miers met Bush in the 1980s, according to published reports, and was counsel for his 1994 campaign for governor. He appointed her chair of the Texas Lottery Commission in 1995. Miers then was president of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell and co-managing partner of Locke Liddell & Sapp before she joined the White House in 2001.
In addition, Miers was named one of the Top 50 Most Influential Lawyers by the National Law Journal in 1998, and received numerous other awards from groups including the Dallas Women Lawyers Association, the Anti-Defamation League and the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers.
This Washington Post article also explains her character and dedication to the law.
Rather, friends and associates say, it reflects her scrupulous discretion and selflessness — the same qualities that propelled her rise through the legal ranks and into President Bush’s inner circle.
“The thing that comes to mind when I think of Harriet is that she basically puts her clients’ interests ahead of everything, including her own personal life, sleeping hours and all those things,” said Jerry Clements, a partner at Locke Liddell & Sapp, the 400-lawyer Texas firm where Miers was a co-managing partner before coming to Washington. “She is defined by hard work, dedication and client loyalty.”
Miers’s low-key but high-precision style is particularly valued in a White House where discipline in publicly articulating policy and loyalty to the president are highly valued. Formerly Bush’s personal lawyer in Texas, Miers came with him to the White House in 2001 as staff secretary, the person who screens all the documents that cross the president’s desk. She was promoted to deputy chief of staff before Bush named her counsel after his reelection in November. She replaced Alberto R. Gonzales, another longtime Bush confidant, who was elevated to attorney general.
AP: High Court Nominee Has Never Been a Judge
“She has devoted her life to the rule of law and the cause of justice,” Bush said as his first Supreme Court pick, Chief Justice John Roberts, took the bench for the first time just a few blocks from the White House.
Harriet Miers’s Discussion Forum
What are the bloggers saying?
Patterico’s Pontifications; What a Disappointment: Bush Chooses Miers
Althouse; Harriet Miers!
But in the end, Bush has chosen a person who has never been a judge — there will be much talk about that — and a person who is a woman (to replace the Court’s first woman) — so we won’t need to talk about that anymore.
PoliPundit: We Have a Nominee!
I’m not thrilled with this pick, but can live with it. Miers is 60, which is a little too old in the ghoulish calculus of SCOTUS nominations; I’d have preferred someone in their 40s or 50s.
Blogs For Bush; Bush Picks Harriet Miers
Scotusblog: Analysis: Some Initial Thoughts
Wizbang; Bush Picks Harriet Miers For Supreme Court
Chief Justice Roberts Sworn In at the White House
This afternoon after receiving confirmation by the Senate, 78-22, John Glover Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the 17th chief justice of the United States at the White House Thursday. As the AP reported, John G. Roberts Jr., a conservative protà ©gà © of the late William H. Rehnquist, succeeded him Thursday and became the nation’s youngest chief justice in two centuries, winning support from more than three-fourths of the Senate after promising he would be no ideologue.
President Bush made the following comments during the swearing in of Chief Justice Roberts:
“The Senate has confirmed a man with an astute mind and kind heart,” President Bush said before John Paul Stevens, the acting chief justice, administered the oath of office.
The following is the transcript of the President’s Remarks at Swearing-In Ceremony of Chief Justice Roberts.
With these qualities, the incoming Chief Justice will carry on in the tradition of his mentor and friend, the late William H. Rehnquist. I know that Chief Justice Rehnquist had hoped to welcome his former law clerk as a colleague. Although that was not meant to be, we are thinking of William Rehnquist today. The nation honors his memory, and we remain grateful for his example of integrity and service.
In welcoming an exceptional new leader as Chief Justice, we also honor the Supreme Court itself, and we mark a day of renewal for one of the noblest institutions in our land. Judge Roberts, thank you for agreeing to serve our country and for accepting this new call to duty.
And now I ask Senior Associate Justice of the Court, Justice John Paul Stevens, to please step forward and administer the oath.
SCOTUS blog reports that Chief Justice Roberts will be on the job tomorrow.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., will take another oath of office on Monday, but that is a mere formality: he is now a fully functioning Chief Justice with all the authority of the office, after taking two oaths at the White House Thursday afternoon. He will go to work at the Court for the first time on Friday.
Roberts Confirmed to be Supreme Court Justice, 78 to 22
In what was pretty much a forgone conclusion after Judge John Roberts remarkable accounting during the Senate Judiciary hearings last week. This confirmation vote of John Roberts today that will affect the United States for the next 30 years, AP is reporting that John Glover Roberts Jr. has become the 17th chief justice of the United States winning confirmation from the Senate 78-22.
overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate to lead the Supreme Court through turbulent social issues for generations to come. The Senate voted 78-22 to confirm Roberts — a 50-year-old U.S.
The Democrats were split along the vote where only the most liberal, or ones with secure seats in upcoming elections voted against Judge Roberts as Confirm Them reports.
The Washington Post reports that Roberts will take the oath of office later today at the White House and will participate on Monday — the first Monday in October — in a Supreme Court induction ceremony as the justices begin their new term.
Roberts, 50, will be the youngest person in the exalted position of chief justice since John Marshall, an appointee of President John Adams who took office in 1801 at the age of 46.
CNN reports Judge John Roberts was easily confirmed Thursday to be the 17th chief justice of the United States, winning Senate approval with a solid majority.
All 55 Republicans were united in their support. They were joined by 22 Democrats and one independent senator. Twenty-two Democrats voted no.
I have to agree with Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice,
“So Democrats were split enough that the entire party can’t be labeled as having opposed Roberts.
But if you read this one thing stands out: the vote will be most troublesome to Hillary Clinton, who has been burnishing her credentials as a centrist”.
