This Weeks' Topic

Supreme Court - Harriet Miers

This week's topic is Harriet Miers and recent changes on the Supreme Court. What was Miers' path to the Supreme Court?

Outside of Texas she is an unknown. She was the first women to serve as the President of the Dallas Bar Association and subsequently the State Bar of Texas. Although she has served on several committees on the ABA, she has never been a judge.

The appointment to the Supreme Court is life time appointment. So if you put the wrong person in that position, you are stuck with them for a long time.

How does Miers' experience compare with Sandra Day O' Conner, who she would be replacing on the bench ?

Prior to being confirmed for the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O' Conner had served as a state legislator and a state court judge. In contrast, Miers has only served in private practice. Her clients have included Microsoft, Walt Disney Company and then Governor GeorgeW. Bush.

Should we expect any surprises during the confirmation hearings ?

There are several hot button issues. For example, gay rights, women's rights , abortion. Miers has no record or prior written position on any of these isssues. I would expect at the hearings that she will dodge the issues and basically say that she will uphold and follow the law and strictly interpret the constitution.

Recently due to thyroid cancer, Judge Rehnquist also left the high court. How would you characterize Rehnquist's tenure on the court?

He was a conservative, a proponent of states' rights, and weakened the wall between church and state. He tended to support corporate rights over individual rights.

In 1973, he helped to write the dissent in Roe vs. Wade. He believed that that opinion misinterpreted the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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