Officially against Miers

I'm going to state this as plainly as possible: I am against Harriet Miers' appointment as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

I am against this appointment because she is not a conservative.

I am against this appointment because she is not a strict constructionist -- the "praise" I saw from one group that she would not take giant leaps beyond prior precedents and instead would have an incremental approach to judging is not reassuring because Justice O'Connor is the leading proponent of incrementalism who has sat on the Court since John Harlan III.

I am against this appointment because it is pure cronyism.

I am against this appointment because it is simple quota-filling as the President's statements in support of her indicate.

I am against this appointment because this President still must EARN his trust on constitutional issues -- of which the Supreme Court is merely the most important battleground.

I am against this appointment because the number of more qualified minorities and women that I can name off the top of my head is too long to ignore: Corrigan, Estrada, Wainwright (Tex.), Jefferson (Tex.), Brown, Owen, Jones, Batchelder, Williams, Blackwell (Ohio Sec'y State), Garza.

I am against this appointment because "real world experience" is a shibboleth devoid of real meaning. District and circuit court judges who have been practicing attorneys before being appointed to the bench all have real world experience too and the black robes do not leech that from their persons.

I am against this appointment because she is not even an appellate advocate, unlike Thurgood Marshall (who was nominated from LBJ's Solicitor General's office).

I am against this appointment because it makes the President seem weak.

I am against this appointment because it is a missed opportunity to change the ideological timbre of the Court -- Miers will not influence the Court's thought processes.

And I am against this appointment because I voted for the President for two reasons: win the terror war, win the judicial appointments that will ensure the Constitution is not weakened by the Court that is supposed to uphold it. I put aside many disagreements with Pres. Bush in my belief that he would get those things done. He's halfway to total failure.