Miers Choice Brings Conservative Division to a Head

GOP, Democrats Conflicted Over Miers
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush's decision to make White House counsel Harriet Miers his second Supreme Court nominee is causing some strange friction on Capitol Hill, with some Republicans unsure about her conservative credentials and some Democrats seemingly supporting her.

The mixed signals create some uncertainty about how Miers will be received in the Senate as the Judiciary Committee prepares for another round of confirmation hearings before the end of the year.

Bush portrayed Miers, who never has been a judge, as a strict constructionist, someone who "will strictly interpret our Constitution and laws."

"She will not legislate from the bench," the president said as the 60-year-old former private attorney stood with him in the Oval Office.

"If confirmed, I recognize that I will have a tremendous responsibility to keep our judicial system strong and to help ensure that the courts meet their obligations to strictly apply the laws and the Constitution," said Miers, who has worked on previous judicial nominations with many of the same senators who now will judge her candidacy.

She immediately began visiting senators in the Capitol, meeting with Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, all of whom had words of praise for her.

In a round of television interviews Tuesday, White House counselor Dan Bartlett sought to reassure conservatives who have expressed concern that Miers might not be conservative enough for their tastes because she had no strong record on hot-button issues like abortion and gay rights.

"She shares President Bush's judicial outlook and that is that justices shouldn't be creating law from the bench, they should be strictly interpret the Constitution," Bartlett said on CBS' "The Early Show."

This has probably been more divisive within the Conservative ranks than any other single move by this President. It has raised the doubts and suspicions that have always haunted Conservatives about Bush.


Full Story: Miers Stirs Decent

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