[KSigkid]

Originally posted by Rudey
Coming back to the topic:

This was an interesting article in the New York Times about how Conservatives don't like her and some Democrats do.

Some Liberals and Conservatives Find Themselves in Awkward Spots



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/po...l1/04reax.html

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 - In a topsy-turvy moment in the Capitol, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader in the Senate, stood alongside Harriet E. Miers on Monday and had only kind things to say about her selection by President Bush for the Supreme Court.

Mr. Reid called her "a very fine lawyer," said her lack of judicial experience was "a plus, not a minus" and pronounced himself pleased that she was a trial lawyer. "That's what I am," he said.

For Mr. Reid, who suggested two weeks ago at a breakfast meeting that Mr. Bush consider Ms. Miers for the Supreme Court, the selection may have been a personal triumph. Evidence that, perhaps, a Republican president took to heart some advice from a Democratic leader.

Mr. Reid was not the only person saying unexpected things. The selection of Ms. Miers, a close confidante of Mr. Bush who both sides say has been a trailblazer for women in the law, turned politics inside out on Capitol Hill, where she quickly began her courtship of senators.

Conservative Republican stalwarts who had ardently defended the last nominee, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., were strangely silent. That is an indication that Ms. Miers could face trouble from the right, which has demanded a nominee with a record demonstrating a willingness to revisit Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's 1973 abortion decision.

Democrats, intent on preserving their right to block Ms. Miers even as their leader came forth with effusive praise, sounded cautious, yet oddly relieved.

After a year of partisan infighting over Mr. Bush's judicial nominees, Democrats had insisted that he not send them any candidates who had been blocked by filibusters. Several Democrats had also asked him to name a candidate from outside the judiciary, advice he apparently heeded, said Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"I talked to President Bush this morning," Mr. Leahy said in a telephone interview from Vermont. "He well remembered that I had raised the point that he should look outside the judicial monastery. I said: 'Yeah, you're the first one who listened to me. I made the same recommendation to President Reagan and President Clinton.' "

While Republicans like Mr. Cornyn were polite in their praise, the most conservative Republican senators were mostly mum. One ardent opponent of abortion, Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, issued no statement. Another, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, said simply that he wanted to know more about Ms. Miers. Senator John Thune of South Dakota said he would "reserve judgment."

-Rudey

I saw that; it seems like many conservatives were hoping the President would choose someone who has a more conservative record. It is very interesting to see the response to the nomination; it's not exactly what I would have expected.