Manuel Miranda, chairman of the Third Branch Conference, released the following statement this morning. Miranda is the former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.).
The reaction of many conservatives today will be that the president has made possibly the most unqualified choice since Abe Fortas who had been the president's lawyer. The nomination of a nominee with no judicial record is a significant failure for the advisors that the White House gathered around it. However, the president deserves the benefit of a doubt, the nominee deserves the benefit of hearings, and every nominee deserves an up or down vote.
Something has been left unachieved by the Miers nomination. A Republican president has yet to erase the stigma of the Robert Bork hearings and the David Souter nomination. The nomination of Harriet Miers has not rid us of the repugnant situation that a jurist with a clear and distinguished record will not be nominated for higher service. The nomination did not rid us of the apprehension of stealth nominees. We congratulate Ms. Miers.
