The Shifting Supreme Court, Part 9

It seems that because of the split between the conservatives/GOP, the President has attempted to "clarify the record" on Miers' nomination. As this article states,

The White House sought to regroup Wednesday by launching a fresh round of political outreach to conservative groups, Republican senators and others who have been critical - or ambivalent - about Miers' nomination. The strategy was designed to "clarify the record" of Miers, which a senior Republican official close to the White House conceded had been "ineffectively articulated" for more than a week - partly because so few people would speak out in support.To get out the message, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared on Wednesday morning television programs and spoke to reporters about Miers, the White House counsel and longtime Bush loyalist, whom he has known for many years from their prior association in Texas. The day before, Bush and wife Laura Bush reiterated their support for Miers.

Behind the scenes, top White House figures such as Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove continued to meet with key Republican constituencies, including bloggers, evangelicals and Senate staffers. But the efforts, both covert and overt, have not quelled criticism. In some cases, the remarks have backfired.

Many people, as opined here by Crampton, find her steath candidacy a problem. He also further stated that aside from Bush's assertion to trust him, his statement that "I know her heart" is even less basis on which to trust his nomination and don't have any real idea how she would serve as a judge. I'm sure Ms. Miers is a fine person and meticulous at her job. Hopefully her Christian worldview will provide her with good ethics, wisdom, and commitment to such a position as on the Supreme Court. However, Crampton made a good point that we still don't know much based on the President's remarks:

President Bush, in what was intended to be the clincher in winning over his base, assured us he "knows her heart." This phrase is a mushy, modern evangelical expression intended to vouch for an individual's faith. It is not a phrase heard in the Roman Catholic or Orthodox traditions, and for good reason: It is entirely unscriptural. Loose language makes for muddled logic. It clouds our thinking and confuses the issue. Scripture provides a clear example of the utter inability of man to truly know the heart. The good prophet Samuel, sent to anoint the next king of Israel, looked on David's eldest brother, Eliab, who apparently presented an impressive outward appearance, and said to himself, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him." But God chastised Samuel and instructed him that "man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." In other words, man cannot see the heart; only God can.

While President Bush obviously knows Ms. Miers well, even he does not know her heart. He cannot be certain that she will stand firm under the intense fire generated against a Supreme Court justice, or how she will vote on particular issues that arise. His claim to know her heart, then, does not clarify anything; it only confuses the matter further. Reduced to its essence, the president's invitation is to simply trust him – this from a man who rode to re-election on the promise to appoint judges in the mold of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. And whatever else Ms. Miers may be, no one has seriously suggested she is another Scalia or Thomas. (Neither is John Roberts, for all his many good qualities.)

I think people's minds would be put more at ease if they had some idea about Miers, regardless of if they agreed or disagreed with it, because the unknown is man's greatest fear. And unfortunately, we can't make an informed decision on non-information. Let's hope that we don't get shafted again with a turncoat or unpredictable judge as has happened in the past.