President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court has divided the Republican Party's conservative base, according to a Washington Post report.
Reaction from key senators and other groups has ranged from hostility to silence to praise.
Several right-leaning lawmakers and activists seemed bewildered by the choice of a relatively little-known White House counsel who has given money to Democratic candidates and who was recommended for the job by Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), the Post reported today. While numerous senators urged colleagues to withhold judgment until more is known, some outsiders vented their dismay that the president had not chosen someone with unmistakably conservative credentials, according to the story.
"I know of nothing in Harriet Miers's background that would qualify her for an appointment to the Supreme Court," Roger Pilon, founder of the libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies, told the newspaper. William Kristol, editor of the influential conservative magazine Weekly Standard, summarized his reaction to the Post as "disappointed, depressed and demoralized."
In the Senate, which will confirm or reject Miers this fall, the nomination triggered a mixture of praise and reserve that, on balance, seemed to bode well for her confirmation, veteran staffers said. According to the story, the acclaim she received from GOP leaders was expected, they said. Less predictable were the accolades from Reid, the Democratic leader, and several conservative Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.
"My conversations with Harriet Miers indicate that she is a first-rate lawyer and a fine person," Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), one of the committee's most conservative members, said in the report. "Her legal skills are proven, and her reputation throughout the legal community is excellent." Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), another committee Republican, said Bush "has made a solid pick for the Supreme Court."
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