Balkinization  

Friday, October 14, 2005

White House Changes Course on Miers Nomination

JB

This Washington Post article suggests that the Bush White House has finally figured out the correct strategy for promoting a stealth candidate: emphasize her qualifications rather than send signals about her ideology. The reasons why this is the better strategy for a stealth candidate are detailed here. The basic idea is that stealth candidates are most likely to be successful when their qualifications are impeccable and their ideology is fuzzy; when their qualifications are doubtful, they tend to lose votes not from the opposition but from the President's allies. That is precisely what we have seen with the Miers nomination.

Is it anything more than spin at this point to claim that Miers is qualified for the Supreme Court? Perhaps. Most people don't recognize that the majority of the Supreme Court's docket does not involve the sorts of constitutional issues that regularly draw attention in the press but rather consists of fairly technical statutory and administrative law questions. With respect to these cases, a lawyer with long experience in the business world is surely as competent as many experts in constitutional law.

Nevertheless, it may be too late to convince the public and the Senate that Miers' qualifications are truly excellent. Miers' qualifications pale in comparison to John Roberts, and conservative pundits have been arguing that she lacks the necessary experience and intellectual heft to be a Supreme Court Justice. At this point, the most that the Bush White House can do is convince people that she is not unqualified. Whether that will be enough to secure her appointment is anyone's guess.


Comments:

With today's hectic lifestyles it can be really hard to keep on top of everything planning . planning
 

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