Chillin' Part II--Updated
Patrick Ruffini is starting a new
Coalition of the Chillin', Scotus Division. Unlike him, I'm part of the original Chillin' brigade. I'm willing to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt for now on the Miers' nomination. However, I'll also admit that some of the stuff that is coming up, like her
alleged support for the International Criminal Court is troubling.
Update: It my sense that the reason some of my fellow conservatives are so upset over this pick is that we were spoiling for a fight over what the proper role of the Supreme Court is. It's not so much Harriet Miers (who is, after all, something of a cipher right now) as it is our desire to have the argument out.
But suppose this nomination is not so much about the current vacancy on the court as it is the next two, which seem likely to be Justices Ginsburg and Stevens. How hard are the Democrats going to be able to fight for a liberal justice when President Bush has given them a moderate conservative this time around? And if Bush gets those two nominations, then the court will be conservative by a 7-2 margin.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want another Souter (and fear of that possibility is another major reason for the distress in conservative circles). But if we end up with a 7-2 majority, will it really matter if one or two of the judges on our side are somewhat squishy?
Michelle Malkin
takes the opposite tack and raises many valid points. I'm not saying that Miers is a great pick, and President Bush didn't help her case by saying it was a diversity pick; Owens would have been equally diverse, and Brown even more so.
