Some welcome balance about Harriet Miers from Siva Vaidhyanathan at Altercation.
There have been hints that the Dem strategy to shake her up will consist of calling her appointment another example of “cronyism and incompetence.” Some will accuse her of lacking the resume for the job. I say that’s crap for a couple of reasons:
1. For a woman of her generation to achieve all she has is remarkable. She had to work in firms full of the goodest and oldest of the good old boys. Think about all the snide remarks she must have had to put up with over the years. Think of all the men she has had to school. So few women have been appointed to the federal bench that we can’t expect any president to limit himself to judges when considering such an appointment. It’s good to see a president look beyond the usual suspects.2. White House Counsel is a hell of a difficult job, full of constiutional judgements complicated by political contingencies. The very fact that she has served in that job without making headlines is to her credit. Alberto Gonzales was not that deft. Neither was John Dean. So kudos to Miers for serving her client well.That said, I shall now proceed to gather more reasons why she should not serve on the High Court.