Another Chance
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The nomination of Harriet Miers seemed like a nightmare for conservatives everywhere. Our President had wasted a chance to put an openly-constructionist jurist on the bench and had instead given us a person who we knew nothing about. But now we can wake up with relief; Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination to the Supreme Court, citing that she was “concerned that the confirmation process presents a burden for the White House and our staff that is not in the best interests of the country.”
This is not a defeat; it is a new lease on life. As Pat Buchanan writes, Miers has given Bush a “second chance to succeed where Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and his father all failed: To become the president who rang down the curtain on 50 years of judicial tyranny and reshaped the Supreme Court into the great constitutionalist body the Founding Fathers intended.” Essentially, Bush gets a do-over; he doesn’t have to worry about a mistake with a lifetime appointment or rebellion within his own party.
The problem with Miers was that she couldn’t rally the base. Rather, she scared the supporters of conservative movements that have labored for decades to erase judicial activism’s ubiquitous stamp. Instead of acting as a unifying figure, the Miers nomination threatened to start a civil war between Bush and grassroots conservatives, leaving Republican Senators in a delicate situation. Miers’s views may have very well resembled a Scalia or a Thomas, but it was the fear of the unknown that sparked such fierce conservative opposition.
But all of these problems have now been erased. The slate is once again blank, and this time it Bush has filled the court vacancy correctly. We deserve a staunch conservative, one with a vividly clear judicial stance and superior legal talent; we should hope for nothing less. As I wrote in the last issue, the nominee should be chosen based on individual merit, and not because of his or her race or gender. The pick ought to be someone of high caliber if we are to have any hope for confirmation. If Bush’s next choice were not stellar in comparison to Miers, we would run the risk of giving weight to the Left’s argument that Bush caved in to “the extreme right’s pressure.” A jurist such as Alito, with credentials beyond question, makes it very difficult for Democrats to oppose him on the grounds of his qualifications. Consequently, Democrats must oppose Alito on a more ideological basis, playing directly into the hands of Republicans seeking to portray Democrats as obstructionist ideologues. Democratic obstructionism in nominations since Bork has become a major rallying point for conservatives. Recall that even judges as disparate as Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg have been approved by large margins in the past: 98-0 and 96-3, respectively.
By choosing a patently conservative candidate, it is very likely that we will start an epic confirmation war. So be it. Terrence Jeffrey, editor of Human Events, agrees, saying, “The Constitution is worth it.” Yet, I’m sure many wonder if this battle really merits fighting. Quite frankly, this is a golden opportunity to affect a great deal of change. Since Bork, nominations have become so vitriolic that possible candidates to the bench withdraw their names from consideration. By confirming a great nominee, we can help to dismantle the liberal interference in the nomination process; we can show that it will simply no longer work. Besides, a better choice can not only repair the damage done to the Republican coalition, but it will also unite and enliven it. Rallying around Alito and getting people involved can only help us in the mid-term elections, especially if the Democrats oppose him/her for being “too extreme,” and once again provide the American public with an example of obstructionism.
But there is even more at stake: we finally have a chance to end the decades-long imperial rule of the courts. We simply cannot afford to let this opportunity slip away. We have 55 seats in the Senate and a public that increasingly sees the influence of liberal courts, be it on the pledge of allegiance or imminent domain. Alito may be the one who shifts the court from overpowering activism back to our Constitutional roots, and transforms the court into a body that reviews laws, rather than to let it remain as an unelected legislature.
There is no doubt that the fight will be difficult. Chuck Muth, the president of Citizen Outreach, states that “The right is going to need to put this Miers mess behind them, regroup, reunite, rearm, and gird their collective loins for a knock ‘em down, drag ‘em out bench-clearing brawl like there’s no tomorrow. Because there isn’t.” How many more decades will it be before we have this opportunity again? The battle lines have now been drawn. Here we shall make our stand.
