LAT: Scholars Are Puzzled at Miers' Equal Protection Response

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-miers22oct22,0,1244386.story?coll=la-home-headlines

When asked to describe the constitutional issues she had worked on during her legal career, Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers had relatively little to say on the questionnaire she sent to the Senate this week.

And what she did say left some constitutional experts shaking their heads.

At one point, Miers described her service on the Dallas City Council in 1989. When the city was sued for violating the Voting Rights Act, she said, the council "had to be sure to comply with the proportional representation requirement of the Equal Protection clause."

But the Supreme Court repeatedly has said that the Constitution's guarantee of the "equal protection of the laws" does not mean that city councils or state legislatures must have enough minority members to match the proportion of blacks, Hispanics and Asians in the voting population.

"That's a terrible answer. There is no proportional representation requirement under the Equal Protection clause," said Burt Neuborne, a New York University law professor and expert on voting rights. "If a first-year law student wrote that and submitted it in class, I would send it back and say it was unacceptable."

[TroglodyteScholar]

1. Recommended...

This is the first detail I've seen about her answers. Pretty pathetic. Has anything else been made public?

[kestrel91316]

2. Where did they say this woman bought her law degree???

'Cause she paid WAY TOO MUCH...........

[IndianaGreen]

5. Ashwood University

http://www.ashwooduniversity.net/ashwood/doctorate_degrees_programs.asp

[kestrel91316]

24. . . .

:rofl:

[amitten]

3. Could it be...

That Miers is (gasp)not very SMART? Perhaps not very QUALIFIED? Now why oh why would Bush pick someone like THAT?

Oh.:think:

[tanyev]

18. Bush thinks she's verrrry smart.

After all, she's one of the few people in the world who recognizes that George Bush is the most brilliant person he or she will ever meet. :rofl:

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. He'll be the judge of that.

:rofl: Not very SMART and not very QUALIFIED, a perfect reflection of Pinhead** himself. Two peas in a pod.

[lumpy]

4. kick

This woman should not be sitting on the SC. Period.

[ClintonTyree]

26. Sitting in a bus station in Joplin, Missouri............

is about what she's qualified for. This makes bush look like an even bigger jackass then he already is, if that is at all possible. It's quite apparent that he chose Harriet himself without any outside help from Rove, Cheney etc. They would have stopped this dead in it's tracks. You can't trust junior to make good decisions, he thinks on an entirely different plane than the rest of us, and it's NOT a good plane. :eyes: What a fucking idiot! :rofl:

[DaveColorado]

6. This should be on the front page

Recommended.

[DaveColorado]

7. She went to SMU

This part is positive:



In Dallas, Miers supported a move to create city council districts so black and Hispanic candidates would have a better chance of winning seats.

"She came to believe it was important to achieve more black and Hispanic representation," Hasen said. "She could have a profound impact as a justice if she brought that view to the court. So, from the prospective of the voting-rights community, they could do a lot worse than her."


So, the question is do we confirm someone who is not-qualified, but may be "not as bad" as an Owens or Brown?

[aquart]

8. No.

[dansolo]

21. Don't be fooled

Gerrymandering works by utilizing this strategy. As minority populations increase, swing districts can trend Democratic. To counter that, they roll up the minority population into a few predominately minority districts, and pad the margins in all the others. I don't buy for a moment that she is a defender of voting rights.

[ClintonTyree]

27. Not when she's going to be the fifth vote to overturn Roe v. Wade..

no, you don't confirm her. It's already been decided that she'll be the fifth vote, we all know that. Not that a woman's right to chose is the only reason to disqualify her, but but it's quite apparent that she is totally out of her league as far as the SC is concerned. She's a dimwit, same as the guy that offered her name in nomination.

[bluestateguy]

9. Would this woman be qualified to be the Judge on "People's Court"?

Judge Wapner would have been a better pick.

[DaveColorado]

10. Or Judge Judy

Now that would be something!

[kurth]

11. But... "She has DEEP knowledge of constitutional law"!!

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/10/22/Worldandnation/Miers_falls_flat_with.shtml

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said "she has deep knowledge of the Constitution and constitutional law." President Bush has said that in her role as White House counsel, she "addresses complex matters of constitutional law." ...

[jfern]

12. Gee

She must have told Bush about the procedure for replacing Cheney.

[FormerOstrich]

13. Could it be that she is the one that

advised Karen Hugh's the constitution said "Under God"? I think they are all too important too read the constitution (in their own minds).

[salin]

15. LOL

and :hi:

[YDogg]

14. But we all know Scott McClellan is a paid liar, at best.

So fuck whatever he has to say.

[peacebird]

16. bush picked her because there was no paper trail for congress to use

and she provides congress with this?!?

LOL!!!

"IF A FIRST YEAR LAW STUDENT WROTE THAT AND SUBMITTED IT IN CLASS, I WOULD SEND IT BACK AND SAY IT WAS UNACCEPTABLE."


oh, yeah - Harriet Miers is "the best" and "most qualified" lawyer for a lifetime appointment on the supreme court - definitely! Just imagine the decisions we could get with her "brilliant legal mind" on the team?

:sarcasm:

[ClintonTyree]

28. Remember, bush looked over hundreds of qualified people....

and Harrit was the cream of the crop! :wow: Makes you wonder what the rest of the crop looked like! :rofl:

[politicaholic]

30. Well, she looked better in a dress than James Baker...

James Baker being the A-#1 A-hole for all things republican when it comes to pesky laws that get in the way of profit.

[usregimechange]

17. kick

[coffeenap]

19. Puleeze, they are not "puzzled" , they are appalled!

:banghead:

[NoPasaran]

20. Let's face it, Miers is a dope

She only counts as brilliant by the standards of an adminstration where the president can't even speak in complete sentences.

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. THe only application of the Equal Protection Clause she likes

Is the atrocious majority rendering in Bush v. Gore (2000)...

[tandot]

25. Well...she thinks Bush is brilliant! How smart did they think she is?

She is as qualified to sit on the Supreme Court as Brownie was as director of FEMA.

Instead of doing what is best for America, Bush again is doing what is best for his friends and cronies. :puke:

[FighttheFuture]

29. What can you really expect from Miers, the Pit Bull's pooper scooper...

She just helps clean up Bush's $hit all over the place. A potentital candidate for SCOTUS she is NOT, and NEVER will be!

[underpants]

31. *sniff sniff* Does anyone smell booze?

The more I read the more she sounds like a boozer.

[Dora]

32. Aren't they all?

birds of a feather, and all that.

[FM Arouet666]

33. Who cares about constitutional law

when you have a guaranteed vote to over turn Roe vs. Wade. Bush is thinking about his legacy, most of his fantasies are fading, social security reform, democracy in Iraq, a neoconservative new world order.

At least he can be known as the president which heralded in the demise of abortion. That is why she was picked, the only reason.

Best candidate for the job?