Land predicts Miers’ record will be like Roberts’

By Tom Strode - Oct 31, 2005

The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin its hearings on the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court Nov. 7.

Miers, named by President Bush to replace retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, is likely to face tough questioning from both Democrats and Republicans. Many conservatives are opposed to her nomination. Miers has indicated she is pro-life in her personal convictions and has opposed abortion in a candidate questionnaire, but she has no judicial record demonstrating she is a strict constructionist, original intent jurist when it comes to interpreting the Constitution.

Some evangelical conservatives have endorsed her nomination, however. These include Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and American Center for Law and Justice Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow.

Land is supporting Miers because Bush has shown he is committed to appointing only strict constructionists to the federal bench.

“I believe that unless something very unforeseen emerges in the hearings, she will be confirmed, and five years from now, there will be a less than one percent difference in her voting record” and that of Roberts, Land said in an Oct. 17 television appearance on the Public Broadcasting System.

“I personally think that the White House was completely blindsided” by conservative opposition, Land said. “And I would point out to you that most of that uproar, not all of it but most of it, is not coming from evangelical social conservatives. It is coming from other kinds of conservatives who are itching to re-fight Bork.”

Land’s reference is to Robert Bork, the former Reagan nominee to the Supreme Court who was rejected by the Senate in 1987 after a campaign of vilification by liberals inside and outside that chamber.

The Republican leadership would like to hold a confirmation vote in the full Senate before the Nov. 24 Thanksgiving holiday. If Miers is confirmed by that date, she would replace O’Connor, who is still serving on the court, in time for Nov. 30 oral arguments in two abortion-related cases. One of the cases involves a parental notification law in New Hampshire, and the other concerns pro-life protests at abortion clinics.

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