Scottie v. Miers: Brain Cell Wars

Miers' life is under the microscope, of course. She's a nominee to SCotUS. Apparently, she made a comment while running for office in Texas in which she said she would do everything in her power to criminalize abortion (overturning Roe v. Wade would merely drop abortion from the status of a right under federal law). That's kinda scary, but she may have been in the throes of a (relatively) youthful passion about her newfound faith.

Along comes Scottie, White House spokestwit, and declares that nothing Miers has said indicates how she would vote on the court if the issues behind Roe v. Wade came before SCotUS. Um, what? Roe v. Wade guarantees that women in every state may receive abortions legally. Miers' comment about criminalizing abortion, then, was either a) the worthless ramblings of a candidate desperately trying to get attention, or b) a statement of her intention to use any means to make it criminal to receive an abortion in Texas—a task only possible if Roe v. Wade is overturned. In the first case, she doesn't present herself as a very judicious thinker, and I don't want her on the court. In the second case, she would be coming to the court with a little too much pink showing on her litmus test and could not, by the arguments the Republicans have been making since the Bork hearings, be considered a valid choice for the court.

Roberts has already proven himself a more than competent jurist, and the new court has already held balanced and interesting oral argument sessions. It would be sad to think that Miers might be the second most intelligent possible nominee as a "good conservative judge." Then again, no one has ever accused Republicans, as a group, of intelligence.