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Not So Easy to Command
One of the justifications the White House has offered for Harriet Miers's nomination is that she is an evangelical Christian and thus can be assumed to be "conservative." As USA Today reported:
President Bush said Wednesday that efforts by his staff to underscore the evangelical religious beliefs of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers are appropriate because those beliefs are a crucial part of her background.
Miers' faith has become a key part of a White House outreach campaign to conservatives wary of her nomination.
"People are interested to know why I picked Harriet Miers," Bush told reporters at the White House.
"They want to know Harriet Miers' background. They want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion," he said.
We objected to this line of defense on last week's episode of "The Journal Editorial Report," which put us in the unusual position of agreeing with the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne, who wrote last week that the president and his supporters were "thoroughly hypocritical":
Shortly after Bush named John Roberts to the Supreme Court, a few Democrats, including Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), suggested that the nominee might reasonably be questioned about the impact of his religious faith on his decisions as a justice.
Durbin had his head taken off. "We have no religious tests for public office in this country," thundered Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), insisting that any inquiry about a potential judge's religious views was "offensive." Fidelis, a conservative Catholic group, declared that "Roberts' religious faith and how he lives that faith as an individual has no bearing and no place in the confirmation process."
But now that Harriet Miers, Bush's latest Supreme Court nominee, is in trouble with conservatives, her religious faith and how she lives that faith are becoming central to the case being made for her by the administration and its supporters. Miers has almost no public record. Don't worry, the administration's allies are telling their friends on the right, she's an evangelical Christian.
Christopher Hitchens, scourge of religious believers, was even more outraged:
Of the nomination of Harriet Miers, . . . it can be said that only her religion has been considered by her conservative fans to be worth mentioning. What else is there to say, in any case, about a middling bureaucrat and yes-woman than that she attends some mediocre place of worship? . . . On this basis, the president and his people have felt able to issue assurances of her OK-ness. So, as far as I can determine, she was set, and has passed, a religious test: that of being an "Evangelical" Christian.
Yet it must be said that this defense of Miers has been far from completely effective. "Jimmy Carter was an evangelical Christian from Georgia, and what did that do for us?" asks conservative lawyer Mark Smith in the Washington Times. And while some "religious right" leaders, such as James Dobson and Pat Robertson, have lined up behind the nomination, others remain skeptical:
* Tony Perkins, Family Research Council: "We are the last people on earth to object to the news that she is a committed Christian; the Good News is, above all, great news for her. And we reiterate, this fact about her is neither grounds for objection nor a fit object for examination by the Senate. By the same token, this fact is not grounds for certifying her to us or to the public. It's not just that religious conviction is an unreliable indicator of a judicial philosophy (though it clearly is), it's that inferences drawn from an individual's religious affiliation have no place in decisions to nominate or confirm a judicial appointee."
* Stephen Crampton, American Family Association: "Merely being an evangelical Christian does not automatically qualify one for any position. Specific knowledge and skills are required for almost any job, and sitting on the highest court in the land is not just any job. Dr. Dobson's endorsement, while admittedly weighty, was predicated upon the private assurances of Ms. Miers' friends and colleagues, and her church affiliation. While these may be important factors, they do not provide assurance that she possesses the necessary skills and knowledge for the job, and they do not settle for most of us the question of her judicial philosophy."
* Mark Sutherland, National Policy Center (link in PDF): "The President has made it a key selling point that she is a 'born-again Christian.' This is wonderful, and speaks highly of her as a person. But this fact does not give us any insight into her judicial philosophy, her constitutional interpretation, or how she would perform as a judge. While I could worship with her, study the Bible with her, and spend eternity with her, it does not mean I want her sitting on SCOTUS."
In 1993 the Washington Post infamously described conservative Christians as "easy to command." It appears the White House has made the mistake of buying into this stereotype.
