Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
[Orin Kerr, October 20, 2005 at 5:31pm] 1 Trackbacks / Possibly More Trackbacks
More Evidence For The Miers Tipping Point, courtesy of a fascinating story by Byron York. The intro:
Strategists working with the White House in support of the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers are becoming increasingly demoralized and pessimistic about the nomination's prospects on Capitol Hill in the wake of Miers's meetings with several Republican and Democratic senators. On a conference call held this morning, they even discussed whether Miers should simply stop visiting with lawmakers, lest any further damage be done and so that time spent in such get-acquainted sessions will not cut into Miers's intensive preparation for her confirmation hearing.
And the conclusion:
"In the early days, there were people on the call who tried to give facile defenses of Miers, and they were immediately shot down," says a fourth source. "And by the way, those defenses weren't as insulting as the White House line no way would they have done the 'sexist, elitist' line."
In summary, says the first source, "People have been looking for ways to support this. There are a lot of us who would like to find a reason to be encouraged. Every time I try to accommodate myself to this nomination, folks at the White House say idiotic things that piss me off, like that spin on Rove's part about her supposed deep involvement in judicial selection for three years, which is just not accurate."
"Demoralization and pessimism?" the source continues. "That's been a constant. We're in the various stages of grief."
Remember, this is from the group working with the White House in support of the nomination.
44 Comments
[Orin Kerr, October 20, 2005 at 4:19pm] 2 Trackbacks / Possibly More Trackbacks
The Miers Nomination and the Tipping Point: One of the notable aspects of the Miers nomination is how much trouble the White House is having finding a clean selling point for Miers that they can use to push her case. Looking back over the last few weeks, "trust us" didn't work; religion didn't work; experience didn't work; personal interviews with Senators didn't work; Texas judges coming to the White House didn't work; and letting Miers make her case through her questionnaire didn't seem to work, either. There are a few cards left to be played, but the number is dwindling quickly. [UPDATE: Looks like "judicial temperament" is up next.]
The key question now is whether the White House can push through the Miers nomination despite these problems, or whether the problems accumulate and reach some kind of tipping point when Republican Senators begin to flip and come out against the Miers nomination. I don't have any special insight into which will happen, but news that Senators Brownback and Graham are calling for the White House to disclose its internal records on Miers' work as White House Counsel seems to me to lend some credence to the tipping point theory.
16 Comments
[Orin Kerr, October 20, 2005 at 3:28pm] 1 Trackbacks / Possibly More Trackbacks
Miers and Business Law: Over at The Conglomerate, Gordon Smith takes a look at whether a Justice Miers would help the Supreme Court in business law cases. His conclusion:
Given her weakness in constitutional law, her background in business law looks like a strength. On the other hand, her nomination hardly merits praise for bolstering the Court's business law expertise. If that were the primary goal, I suspect that President Bush could have found hundreds of more qualified candidates. In the end, the total package is still monumentally disappointing.
9 Comments
