A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

My old law professor Douglas Kmiec has written this editorial in support of Harriet Miers. I would take the time to beat up on it at length, but I see that Ramesh Ponnuru has already pretty much done so. I would add that merely because Hamilton wanted the judicial branch to be the least dangerous one does not mean that we should tolerate the nomination of a cipher to the Court. Additionally, merely stating that few mortals reach the heights of understanding regarding constitutional law that John Roberts has reached does not excuse the need to have nominees that have reached some notable mark of achievement when it comes to constitutional jurisprudence.

I don't necessarily expect any and all future Supreme Court nominees to be as good as John Roberts is. But I expect them to have a thorough grounding in the subjects that come up before the Court. Harriet Miers is an excellent litigator and the kind of person that a law firm would turn to in order to be managed. No one doubts that she is intelligent and accomplished. But saying that does not mean that we can also say that she is Supreme Court material. Too many people conflate the two.