Thursday, October 27, 2005

The last Harriet Miers post

In the manner predicted by various bloggers and pundits, Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers asked President Bush to withdraw her nomination, citing the problem of Senate demands for her papers as White House counsel. Of course, this problem didn't sneak up on her or anyone, particularly since the quest for documents (typically by Senate Democrats) has become the main tactic of opposition to nominations.

The best thing I read about the reaction to the Miers nomination is that it, like the response to the selection of former Vice-President Quayle, shows that standards are higher than they used to be. Sure, history tells us that many popular Supreme Court justices were not appeals court judges or law professors or Supreme Court advocates before their appointment. In the present day, however, there are literally more lawyers and more judges than ever before. The talent pool is deeper than ever before.

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