Miers Names Favorite Justice: Burger (Who Voted For Roe)

Washington Post ^ | 10/7/05 | Shailagh Murray and Charles Babington

[DJ MacWoW]

Thanks!

[DJ MacWoW]

Miers is Prez Bush's lawyer friend who has no record on deciding constitutional isses..

It's a crap idea and I'll explain.

King George had more experience as a ruler than the colonial farmers that were the architects of the Constitution. George Washington had no experience as a Congressman or Govenor but he was a Prez. The "Jay Court", the first Supreme Court, had no experience as Supreme Court Justices and had never even clerked for any since they were the first court to exist. Did that make them exempt from service or incompetent?

Have you read the Constitution? Did you understand it? It was written to be clearly understood. Case precedent is only a lawyers interpretation of the Constitution.

Our country started out being run by farmers. Lawyers run DC now. Do you like what the farmers did? Or the lawyers? Do you REALLY want a "professional" on the court?

[SpringheelJack]

George Washington had no experience as a Congressman or Govenor but he was a Prez.

He'd been a member of the Virginia colonial assembly, a delegate of the continental congress, and while the revolutionary war waged, de facto leader of the states.

The "Jay Court", the first Supreme Court, had no experience as Supreme Court Justices and had never even clerked for any since they were the first court to exist. Did that make them exempt from service or incompetent?

Jay was a contributor to the Federalist Papers, one of the most important diplomats of the revolutionary war, and a man of undoubted knowledge of constitutional issues.

Our country started out being run by farmers. Lawyers run DC now. Do you like what the farmers did? Or the lawyers? Do you REALLY want a "professional" on the court?

Washington, Jay, Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Hamilton --- these were all lawyers. And yeah, I do want a competent professional on the court.

[RockinRight]

look into my eyes, what do you see?
Cult of personality
I know your anger, i know your dreams
I've been everything you want to be
I'm the cult of personality
Like mussolini and kennedy
I'm the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality

Neon lights, a nobel prize
The mirror speaks, the reflection lies
You don't have to follow me
Only you can set me free
I sell the things you need to be
I'm the smiling face on your t.v.
I'm the cult of personality
I exploit you still you love me

I tell you one and one makes three
I'm the cult of personality
Like joseph stalin and gandi
I'm the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality

Neon lights a nobel prize
A leader speaks, that leader dies
You don't have to follow me
Only you can set you free

You gave me fortune
You gave me fame
You me power in your god's name
I'm every person you need to be
I'm the cult of personality
Look into my eyes, what do you see?
Cult of personality
I know your anger, i know your dreams
I've been everything you want to be
I'm the cult of personality
Like mussolini and kennedy
I'm the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality

Neon lights, a nobel prize
The mirror speaks, the reflection lies
You don't have to follow me
Only you can set me free
I sell the things you need to be
I'm the smiling face on your t.v.
I'm the cult of personality
I exploit you still you love me

I tell you one and one makes three
I'm the cult of personality
Like joseph stalin and gandi
I'm the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality

Neon lights a nobel prize
A leader speaks, that leader dies
You don't have to follow me
Only you can set you free

You gave me fortune
You gave me fame
You me power in your god's name
I'm every person you need to be
I'm the cult of personality

[wideminded]

It seems odd that she simply referred to Burger by his first name.

Perhaps she only has a vague idea of Supreme Court history and could not quite think of Burger's last name. Perhaps she was having a "senior moment". Neither of these is a good sign.

[JCEccles]

Graham said he was "very impressed" by Miers and said the two had discussed her work history and how she had dealt with various types of conflict throughout her career. He described her as a "consensus builder"

Right. She "deals" with confict. She certainly doesn't welcome or relish it. Miers needs to run for Congress, and stay far away from SCOTUS.

I too had the initial chill that she meant Earl Warren and only backtracked when she realized her mistake. Not that Burger was any great shakes either.

If you had asked McConnell or Luttig the same question you likely would have gotten a spirited discussion of a half dozen SCOTUS luminaries stretching back to this nation's founding. This is what they live for; what they have prepared their entire professional lives for.

What this little vignette teaches me is that Miers is a shallow thinker who has remained studiously away from weighty matters of constitutional jurisprudence. It just isn't something that has ever interested her much. It probably makes her head hurt.

I sense she really doesn't like conflict, that she has an inordinate desire to help everyone "just get along." That implies she will be a constant ingratiating compromiser along the lines of O'Connor.

We need just the opposite at this crucial juncture of history. We need a committed-to-the-bone conservative who will not flinch, who will call it exactly as the Constitution gives him light to see it, though the demons howl and march on Washington demanding his head.

[NittanyLion]

Leahy asked her to name her favorite Supreme Court justices. Miers responded with "Warren" -- which led Leahy to ask her whether she meant former Chief Justice Earl Warren, a liberal icon, or former Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative who voted for Roe v. Wade . Miers said she meant Warren Burger, the sources said.

WTF!?! This is scary no matter which "Warren" she meant.

[NittanyLion]

BTW, assuming any of those anonymous sources are accurate, what else did Warren Burger vote for. Abortion, for many conservatives, is rather low on the totem pole of importance in comparison to, for example, 2nd Amendment rights. If this lady is a strong gun owners proponent, I can't see why that would not trump anything else.

In 1991, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger referred to the Second Amendment as "the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word ‘fraud,' on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime...[the NRA] ha(s) misled the American people and they, I regret to say, they have had far too much influence on the Congress of the United States than as a citizen I would like to see - and I am a gun man." Burger also wrote, "The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon...[S]urely the Second Amendment does not remotely guarantee every person the constitutional right to have a ‘Saturday Night Special' or a machine gun without any regulation whatever. There is no support in the Constitution for the argument that federal and state governments are powerless to regulate the purchase of such firearms..."

Read it all here.

[DJ MacWoW]

And yeah, I do want a competent professional on the court.

We have a court full of them. Do you like the SC?

He'd been a member of the Virginia colonial assembly, a delegate of the continental congress, and while the revolutionary war waged, de facto leader of the states.

In other words, no previous experience, he learned as he went along.

Jay was a contributor to the Federalist Papers, one of the most important diplomats of the revolutionary war, and a man of undoubted knowledge of constitutional issues.

In other words, no previous experience, he learned as he went along.

Washington, Jay, Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Hamilton --- these were all lawyers.

So is Miers.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I asked my wife, and she said yes, I always interrupt her if she even gives the slightest hesitation.

I can completely imagine Leahy jumping at the Warren reference to say "Earl?"

But we don't have a recording, so we'll never know.

[SpringheelJack]

DJ, in your ode to inexperience you claimed that Washington had no experience as a congressman; you're simply wrong. You claimed that Jay had "no experience" - that's wrong too. Despite lacking opportunities that Miers had he still has a pre-nomination resume which blows hers away.

We're not going to get a better country by turning back to "farmers" who never ran it. Good lawyers did the job then, and good lawyers and other professionals will have to do it now.

[BagelFace]

Dear Sir,

All I can say is that matter and anti-matter must never come into contact -- according to Mr. Spock, anyway. In other words, one vote away or not, it will never happen. But I would understand if it takes years and years before you say: "You know, that idiot BagelFace was right." Just sit back, watch the show, and think of me...

BF

[DJ MacWoW]

you claimed that Washington had no experience as a congressman; you're simply wrong.

What congress did he serve in before the Revolution and for how many years?

You claimed that Jay had "no experience" - that's wrong too.

How long was he an SC justice before the SC was created?

Why are you not understanding that these men CREATED a country, a Constitution and a court that was new and NO ONE had experience in doing that? Nothing like America had ever existed before.

[Zack Nguyen]

I think we need to focus on reducing the amount of abortions in America they have gone up every year under my President who tells me his is pro-life.

I think we need to reduce abortions in this country too, but there is a political aspect to this problem. It is legal to kill a baby in this country for nay reason, or no reason. As long as the government says it is okay to do this, people will do it.

So we need to attack the problem in several different ways, with a political and judicial strategy as one aspect.