From the Corner: IT’S ALL A BIG MISUNDERSTANDING! [Roger Clegg] I just reread today’s very first Corner posting, and suddenly it hit me what’s happened. Bush didn’t want HARRIET Miers nominated—he wanted rock-solid-conservative-law-professor Gail HERIOT nominated! He said, “Okay, I’ve decided to nominate Heriot,” and some staffer screwed up. Or maybe the staffer was Miers […]
Author Archive | Randy Barnett
The Myth of the “Constitution-in-Exile” Movement
Pejman Yousefzadeh has a nice column on The Myth of the “Constitution-in-Exile” Movement up on Tech Central Station. Here is how it begins: Last week, I wrote about the conspiracy-mongering regarding the existence and function of the Federalist Society that has become part of the judicial confirmation wars and has emerged as a major talking […]
Exclusive Video: The Conservative Ice Age?
Since no one seems to be blogging today (a first?), I thought I would post this link to Right Side Redux, where you can find an amusing video illustrating the question: Is a conservative Ice Age upon us? The same site also offers a Pro-Miers and Con-Miers Arguments with Sources, the origins of which it […]
Medical Marijuana at Yale:
No more blogging today, as I am headed down to New Haven to speak about the Raich case at Yale Law School. The panel is entitled, “Raich v. Gonzales: Is the Lopez Revolution Over?” I will be criticizing the Court’s decision, and Sam Bagenstos will be defending it. The event begins at 5:30pm in room […]
David Frum Reports:
David Frum formerly worked with Harriet Miers and early last week dlsclosed his personal knowledge of her as a colleague. Since then, he has done additional reporting from his sources within the administration as well as reading her articles that have been posted by the University of Michigan here. Check out his posts here and […]
Did Miers Vet Judicial Nominees?
One of the arguments on behalf of Ms. Miers’ qualification to be on the Supreme Court made by the White House and others is her role in vetting prospective judicial nominees. One thing that the blogosphere is good at is a fact checking, and here is a post that questions the facts upon which that […]
What Was Dobson Told?
A comment on another thread asks: I think the question whether Bush has created an opening to inquiry about his previous communications with Miers is very interesting and I hope Randy Barnett will comment on it. Because I have not given the issue of executive privilege enough serious thought, I do not have an informed […]
The Right Coast & Professor Bainbridge on Miers:
The Right Coast, one of my favorite blogs, has been on blogging up a storm on the Miers nomination. Check out Mike Rappaport’s The Future of Harriot Miers and Tom Smith’s Hewitt on Miers Critics. Professor Bainbridge’s Why the Miers Fight is Worth Fighting is also well worth reading. Steve has been on fire. The […]
Rick Garnett on the Federalist Society:
In a piece on Bench Memos that deserves wide circulation, Professor Rick Garnett movingly criticizes the marginalization of the Federalist Society by the White House. Here is an excerpt: . . . Too often, this Administration, prominent nominees, and even Federalist Society members nominated for important positions in government have treated the Society as if […]
A Race to the Bottom:
A commentator on another thread posted the following: Clinton did not set out to nominate Ginsburg for the court. He set out to nominate Bruce Babbit, who, by all means, would have had the qualifications equivalent to Roberts. Instead, Orin Hatch told Clinton that Babbit would not be confirmed by the Senate, and gave a […]
The Miers Standard:
Apart from ethical and other issues extraneous to qualifications, there are at least two dimensions of “qualifications” to be on the Supreme Court: (1) Evidence of legal ability of the sort needed by a Supreme Court justice, and (2) a “judicial philosophy” by which one approaches the task of judging at this time in the […]
More Defenses of Miers:
Here is a link to the text of this morning’s radio address by the President defending his choice of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Here is a link (scroll down) to a transcript of a RNC/White House Conference Call on Harriet Miers (10/06/05) to conservative activists urging them to support the nomination. At both […]
Ron Cass Defends Miers Nomination:
Ron Cass, the former dean of the Boston University School of Law, has published a defense of the Miers pick, although he concedes (as many of her defenders do) that “Ms. Miers wasn’t my pick, and wouldn’t have been if I had been choosing, because she doesn’t bring to the Court demonstrated excellence in the […]
A Stunning Column By George Will:
The blogosphere was abuzz last night by news of this hard-hitting column by George Will. I am tempted to post the whole thing but here is an excerpt: It is not important that she be confirmed because there is no evidence that she is among the leading lights of American jurisprudence, or that she possesses […]
A Malfunctioning White House:
In all the attention paid to Harriet Miers lack of qualifications to be on the Supreme Court, the process by which she became the nominee has generally been ignored. After all, it is only day two in this sad saga. Here is a long excerpt from Tom Smith’s post on The Right Coast that deserves […]