Miers' Answer Raises Questions

[IJ Reilly]

The most qualified person he could find...

Legal experts find a misuse of terms in her Senate questionnaire 'terrible' and 'shocking.'

WASHINGTON — Asked to describe the constitutional issues she had worked on during her legal career, Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers had relatively little to say on the questionnaire she sent to the Senate this week.

And what she did say left many constitutional experts shaking their heads.

At one point, Miers described her service on the Dallas City Council in 1989. When the city was sued on allegations that it violated the Voting Rights Act, she said, "the council had to be sure to comply with the proportional representation requirement of the Equal Protection Clause."

But the Supreme Court repeatedly has said the Constitution's guarantee of "equal protection of the laws" does not mean that city councils or state legislatures must have the same proportion of blacks, Latinos and Asians as the voting population.

"That's a terrible answer. There is no proportional representation requirement under the equal protection clause," said New York University law professor Burt Neuborne, a voting rights expert. "If a first-year law student wrote that and submitted it in class, I would send it back and say it was unacceptable."

Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, also an expert on voting rights, said she was surprised the White House did not check Miers' questionnaire before sending it to the Senate.

"Are they trying to set her up? Any halfway competent junior lawyer could have checked the questionnaire and said it cannot go out like that. I find it shocking," she said.

...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-miers22oct22,0,1244386.story

[mactastic]

Simply amazing.

And remember, Miers was the person heading up the committee to search for a SCOTUS nominee. So not only did Bush think she was the most qualified person around, so did she!

It would be one thing if she had the mind of a Roberts -- who despite being on the other side of the ideological divide from me still managed to impress me with his knowledge base. Roberts is a constitutional scholar through and through.

Miers is a hack who is loyal to Bush. That is her only qualification.

[IJ Reilly]

Miers is a hack who is loyal to Bush. That is her only qualification.

You forget, she's also a good church lady.

[Thomas Veil]

It's amazing the degree to which this administration is falling apart. I mean, I'm enjoy a little schadenfreude and everything, but the utter incompetence of these people is embarrassing. They can't do anything right.

[zimv20]

link (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12973371.htm)


Miers family received 'excessive' sum in land case

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers collected more than 10 times the market value for a small slice of family-owned land in a large Superfund pollution cleanup site in Dallas where the state wanted to build a highway off-ramp.

The windfall came after a judge who received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Miers' law firm appointed a close professional associate of Miers and an outspoken property-rights activist to the three-person panel that determined how much the state should pay.

The resulting six-figure payout to the Miers family in 2000 was despite the state’s objections to the "excessive” amount and to the process used to set the price. The panel recommended paying nearly $5 a square foot for land that was valued at less than 30 cents a square foot.

Mediation efforts in 2003 reduced the award from $106,915 to $80,915, but Miers, who controls the family’s interest in the land, hasn’t reimbursed the state for the $26,000 difference, even after Bush appointed her to the Supreme Court.

(more)

her other "qualification" -- she's corrupt.

[solvs]

And remember, Miers was the person heading up the committee to search for a SCOTUS nominee.
And Cheney was the one heading up the commitee to find a VP candidate. I think I'm gettinig it now. Bush is just really, really lazy. And stupid. Don't forget stupid.

[IJ Reilly]

her other "qualification" -- she's corrupt.

Corrupt might be a tad too dramatic. She's a crony, and by definition, cronies take care of each other. It's the American version of the old boy's network.

[tristan]

Yeah, she just knows the right people, and that's pretty much all it takes in this administration. If I were friends with Bush, I'd be the next Fed Chairman because I have a subscription to the Economist and know how to calculate interest in Excel.

[IJ Reilly]

Yeah, she just knows the right people, and that's pretty much all it takes in this administration. If I were friends with Bush, I'd be the next Fed Chairman because I have a subscription to the Economist and know how to calculate interest in Excel.

You would appear to be over-qualified.

[mactastic]

You would appear to be over-qualified.
He would be over-qualified except for one thing. He doesn't have the one prime requisite -- complete and total loyalty to Bush over truth.

Tristan, I would suggest you fire off a letter to Bush telling him he is 'the bestest president ever'. Conclude with 'America is blessed.' You might just be able to change his mind before the 1PM EST announcement.

[tristan]

Too late... CNN just announced the replacement. And my letter was half done. :p

[3rdpath]

Too late... CNN just announced the replacement. And my letter was half done. :p

i'd finish that letter...there's a good possibility of other job vacancies in the whitehouse in the near future.

[pseudobrit]

Yeah, she just knows the right people, and that's pretty much all it takes in this administration. If I were friends with Bush, I'd be the next Fed Chairman because I have a subscription to the Economist and know how to calculate interest in Excel.

Have you ever done your own taxes? See, a man who know his way around numbers. A man who -- what? You haven't ever done your own taxes.

As I was saying, we need a man, a leader who knows how to delegate...