What a Difference a Weekend Makes

We left on a John Roberts high. We come back to a mess.

by Rod D. Martin
October 3, 2005

We left this weekend thrilled with our victory on Chief Justice Roberts, for whom Vanguard PAC mobilized tens of thousands of Americans to sign petitions, make phone calls to fence-sitting Senators, and otherwise actively support. We had a big week, and we got a lot done.

Sadly, we came back to the President's nomination of Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor.

Ms. Miers is a fine person by all accounts, and we stress that George Bush has done nothing to merit anything but our trust.

But conservatives deserved an appointee who's outstanding accomplishments included something more than serving on the White House staff, becoming the first woman president of the Dallas Bar, and giving money to Al Gore.

There are countless brilliant conservative legal minds we could enthusiastically support. Many of them have long, outstanding paper trails precisely because George Bush put them on America's highest courts.

Why he didn't nominate one of them boggles the mi…