Promises For Votes

Ruth Ginsberg set the precedent:
"...it is best that I not do anything that could be...used as a prediction of how I might vote...".

John Roberts played umpire:
"Judges are not politicians who can promise to do certain things in exchange for votes."

But "promises for votes" is exactly what conservatives want from Harriet Miers.

They equate promises with past rulings and paper trails. Miers has neither.

Lacking a promise in the form of past rulings and paper trails, conservatives attack Miers' background, experience, scholarship, and friendship with Bush.

Bush promised "to nominate justices who would interpret the law strictly and not legislate from the bench. He believes Ms. Miers would be such a justice".

"it is no more legitimate for conservatives than for liberals to demand satisfaction on the "key issues of the day,"."

"it is no more Ms. Miers's job to promise Mr. Brownback her vote to overturn Roe than it was Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s job to promise Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) his vote to sustain it."

Incrementalism: "Republican majority can be made a permanent feature of the landscape if you build it one small brick at a time. Miers is, at best, such a brick"

--LynZee