Sen. Brownback is key to nominee Miers’ fate

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

WASHINGTON - In President Bush’s battle to convince conservatives to back Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, Thursday is a key day and Kansas Republican Sam Brownback is a crucial senator.

A leading social conservative, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a potential 2008 GOP presidential hopeful, Brownback is preparing to interview Miers Thursday afternoon in his office.

If any Republican in the Senate were going to lead a revolt against the Miers nomination, it would seem to be Brownback.

Her nomination, Brownback acknowledged in an interview Wednesday night, has been an undeniable disappointment to the conservative movement.

“What I was hoping for was (Judge Michael) Luttig (of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit). (Fifth Circuit Judge) Priscilla Owen, you don’t have as much of a record, but you have some. (Fifth Circuit Judge) Edith Jones, you have a much clearer record," he said.

"That’s what I was hoping, that we would get that sort of nominee, where there’s no guessing game about this, because you have that written record.”

Fear of nominee veering left
Brownback said he feared a nominee who, once on the high court, “would start out conservative, but then veer left.” He didn’t identify any examples but Ronald Reagan appointee Anthony Kennedy and Gerald Ford nominee John Paul Stevens fit his description.

On Monday, Bush nominated Miers, his White House counsel, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the high court.

“There was missed opportunity here,” Brownback lamented. What was lost was the chance to educate the country, if for example, Bush had nominated someone such as Luttig who has 14-year record of judicial decisions or Jones who has served for 20 years on the federal appeals court.

With “a person like a Luttig or Jones you can have a discussion with the country about the key issues because there’s a record. You can have a discussion about (the right to) life, God in the public square, you can have that sort of debate with the nation. I don’t think we are going to have that (with Miers nomination) because you’re going to have the same sort of non-answers to cases that we’ve seen in recent nominees.”

In his meeting with Miers on Thursday, Brownback said, “I hope to learn something about her heart… I’m going to try to make some determination as to who she is, the character of her soul.”

One case he plans to ask her about is Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 decision which upheld the right of married couples to use contraceptives. Chief Justice John Roberts said during his confirmation hearing that Griswold v. Connecticut was settled law.

“I’d love to have her say Roe v. Wade is unconstitutional; I am doubtful that that is going to happen,” he said, referring to the 1973 decision legalizing abortion.

As of late Wednesday, no Republican senators had stood up in opposition to Miers.

One Republican member of the Judiciary Committee who met with Miers Wednesday, Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, said after the meeting that she was "an excellent pick" for the Supreme Court and that he was "very, very impressed" by her, describing the White House counsel as "tough as nails and very independent."

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