More Good News

First the White Sox end Chicago's World Series drought, now Harriet Miers withdraws her nomination to the Supreme Court.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that Miers called Bush about 8:30 last night to tell him she was withdrawing and handed him her letter 12 hours later in the Oval Office.

Bush is "deeply disappointed in the process," McClellan said. Miers will remain as White House counsel and will be involved in choosing a new court nominee, he added.

The decision marked the end of one of the most contentious Supreme Court nominations in recent years, following on controversies over the naming of Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork. Thomas was approved by the Senate in 1991 after a bitter confirmation hearing and Bork was defeated in 1987. A major political difference between the Bork and Miers nominations is that Bork was championed by a powerful wing of the GOP, while Miers appeared to have only one truly enthusiastic supporter, the president.

The last person to withdraw as a Supreme Court nominee was Douglas H. Ginsburg, nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. Ginsburg pulled out after revealing that he had used marijuana. Three nominees have been rejected by the Senate in modern times, including Bork.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate minority leader who supported Miers, called the withdrawal a victory for "the radical right wing" of the Republican Party.

If Harry Reid is upset, we are on the right track (pardon the pun). The outcry on the right against Miers' nomination isn't a product of radicalism from the right. Those opposed generally felt that Miers was both unqualified for the job based on her experience, and too much of an unknown quantity, a situation she did nothing to change after the nomination. I explained to my wife that the nomination of Miers to the court was akin to someone nominating me, an attorney newly admitted to the Delaware bar, to assume a Delaware judgeship on our state Supreme Court. I have no direct past experience with Delaware law, but I am an attorney "familiar" with a certain limited portion of it. As an attorney with good credentials, and now multiple bar memberships, I have demonstrated a past ability to learn new law and adapt to new situations. But I wouldn't pretend today to be qualified for such a position. Yes, I am a fine attorney. No, I do not currently have the experience to be considered for a Delaware judgeship. That will come with exposure to and experience with Delaware law. Nothing indicates that Harriet Miers had ever spent time enough studying and practicing with the Constitution, a short but complex document, to be a serious choice for a lifetime appointment to our highest court.

Let's hope Bush takes this opportunity to nominate an individual with a demonstrated aptitude in the field of Constitutional law and a history of thoughtful scholarship on the issues raised by our founding document.