WFB on Harriet

National Review's editors thought it over--and still don't like her:

Miers’s supporters argue that her conservatism is reflected in the judicial picking she allegedly did for President Bush. Most of this work was, however, done before she became counsel. They say that she is pro-life. . .They say that she has a strong evangelical faith. But neither being pro-life or an evangelical is a reliable guide to what kind of jurisprudence she would produce, even on Roe, let alone on other issues.

Then there is the related issue of qualification. She has had real accomplishments. But it speaks volumes that the president cited her service on a lottery commission as a reason to put her on the Supreme Court. Some of the president’s supporters have argued that excellence does not matter in a Supreme Court nominee — that really any one of 50,000 lawyers could adequately do the job. This is unconvincing on its face. But if a refutation is needed, consider the career of Harry Blackmun. Here was a judge described even by his admiring biographer Linda Greenhouse as intellectually insecure. Like Miers, he too was devoted to local establishments: the Mayo clinic in his case rather than the ABA. Sure he was a loyal Republican; but almost as soon as he arrived on the Court, he was transformed.

So, we have reason to fear, will be the case with Miers. And even if she does not become a Blackmun, her record strongly suggests she will be an O’Connor — a split-the-difference judge. As one of her former colleagues has said of her, Miers’s office was the “place where the action stopped and the hand-wringing began.” If she follows that course, we will be left with a Court that retains immense and inappropriate lawmaking power but refuses to make clear laws. The rule of law is based on the making of arguments and the giving of reasons, not on sentiment or group loyalty — which is the basis on which Miers’s defenders want us to support her.

Also, Right Side Redux assembled a table of Harriet arguments -- pro and con; strong and questionable -- packed with hyperlinks.