Seeking to quell unrest on his conservative flank, President Bush defended Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers on Tuesday, insisting that she was “the best person I could find” for the job.
“I can understand people not knowing Harriet. She hasn’t been one of these publicity hounds,” Bush said at a Rose Garden news conference. “She’s been somebody who just quietly does her job. But when she does it, she performs, you see.”
Bush’s choice of Miers has–at least at first–raised more hackles within his own party than it has with Democrats.
Some conservatives have expressed misgivings that Miers, who is now White House counsel and has never been a judge, has such a scant “paper trail” to document her political philosophy. And a piece of that paper trail that came to light Tuesday did little to ease their concerns.
In 1989, Miers backed equal civil rights for homosexuals and spending on AIDS education in a survey she filled out when she ran for the Dallas City Council. But in the survey answers given to a gay-rights group, she defended a Texas law–overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003–that made gay sex a crime.
Despite Miers’ stand in favor of the anti-sodomy law, the Web site covenantnews.com called her “Bush’s pro-Sodomite nominee.”
Few other conservatives have been quite so sharp in their criticism, but there has been a strong sense of disappointment among many of them since Miers’ nomination was announced Monday.
`Unforced error’
The Family Research Council, a conservative group that has withheld an endorsement, said the nomination “continues to roil the waters in this Capital.” National Review Online columnist David Frum called it an “unforced error.”
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group, said Miers’ 1989 survey response “raises the possibility that she’s more fair-minded than our opponents are hoping.”
Despite uneasiness on the right, Miers’ nomination appeared on track, with most Republican senators voicing confidence in Miers and Democrats expressing relief that Bush did not choose someone more flamboyantly conservative.
At his news conference, Bush acknowledged that he responded to the views of senators, including Democrats, in making his choice.
He even quoted the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who had urged a nominee from outside the “judicial monastery.”
“I actually listen to senators when they bring forth ideas,” Bush said. “And one of the most interesting ideas I heard was, why don’t you pick somebody who hasn’t been a judge? Why don’t you reach outside. … And so, recognizing that Harriet will bring not only expertise, but a fresh approach, I nominated her.”
Bush repeated that he hopes the Senate can vote on Miers’ nomination before Thanksgiving. And he said he does not plan to release to senators documents involving her work at the White House, saying that would violate executive privilege.
Miers made Capitol Hill courtesy calls Tuesday to three key Republicans — Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Charles Grassley of Iowa and Jeff Sessions of Alabama. All are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will conduct hearings on her nomination.
“A lot of my fellow conservatives are concerned, but they don’t know her as I do,” Hatch said after meeting with Miers. “She’s going to basically do what the president thinks she should, and that is be a strict constructionist” of the Constitution.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a Judiciary Committee member and key abortion opponent, said his attitude toward Miers was “trust but verify.”
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“I am not yet confident that Ms. Miers has a proven track record and I look forward to having these questions answered,” Brownback said in a statement.
Bush said that he did not recall discussing Miers’ personal views on abortion with her.
“I have no litmus test. There is no litmus test. What matters to me is her judicial philosophy,” Bush said.
Miers’ close companion, Nathan Hecht, indicated in an interview Tuesday that no one should assume that Miers would vote to overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide, just because she is personally opposed to abortion.
Hecht, a conservative member of the Texas Supreme Court, opposes the right to an abortion, and said Miers shares his views. The two have attended the evangelical Valley View Christian Church near Dallas.
“Harriet goes to a church that is pro-life. She has for 25 years,” he said. “She gives them a lot of money. Her personal views lie in that direction.”
But when asked whether her personal views on abortion would give her sufficient cause to overturn Roe vs. Wade, Hecht said, “I think she’ll say they won’t.”
Owned a .45
One thing appears clear about Miers’ political views, according to Hecht: She favors the right to keep and bear arms.
Miers once owned a .45-caliber revolver, a gift from a brother who was worried about her safety when she lived alone in Dallas, Hecht said.
“It’s a huge gun–he wanted to be sure she stopped the guy,” Hecht said.
The judge recalled one Sunday afternoon setting up tin cans on a dirt road and trying to teach Miers how to shoot.
How was her aim?
“She was terrible,” he said.