Harriet Miers

The New York Times writes:



"...Another subject sure to be debated at her confirmation hearings, which are tentatively set for early November, is that of "judicial activism," a term often used by conservatives to describe what they see as "legislating from the bench." Ms. Miers's comments on judicial activism are sure to be well received by conservatives.



"The role of the judiciary in our system of government is limited," she wrote in the Senate questionnaire. "While its role and its independence are essential to the proper functioning of our tripartite system of government, the courts cannot be the solution to society's ills, and the independence of the courts provides no license for them to be free-wheeling."



Like Judge Roberts, Ms. Miers expressed an appreciation of stability and predictability in the law. "Humility and self-restraint require the judiciary to adhere to its limited role and recognize that where applicable precedent exists, courts are not free to ignore it," she wrote.



On the other hand, she said, there are instances in which revisiting precedent is not only right but necessary. Again like Judge Roberts, she cited the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, in which the Supreme Court unanimously declared public school segregation unconstitutional - and in so doing swept aside a late-19th Century ruling that had upheld "separate but equal" schools."



Here's the defining issue of the Harriet Miers nomination. She has, by all accounts, no well-defined constitutional philosophy and certainly lacks the experience one would expect of a nominee to the Supreme Court. In selling her to conservatives, George Bush points to her one redeeming feature, which is that she is an evangelical, pro-life Christian and therefore, by implication, wink-wink, a sure vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. She is, in other words and by the President's own admission, a judicial activist, one who the President and his supporters are counting on to "legislate from the bench", one who promises to use the independence of the courts to be "free-wheeling". Perhaps that realization is what has prompted the dismay of conservative intellectuals like George Will Charles Krauthammer, and their ilk.