Dennis Coyle on Supreme Court on National Review Online

"...But law, unlike politics, is inescapably an intellectual exercise, and reason is the bedrock of the rule of law. It is about the careful articulation of principles and nuanced applications, made persuasive by a compelling understanding of the constitutional order and the role of courts. Law is not molded simply by the votes of judges and justices, but in the power and cogency of written opinions and the philosophy they express, which become the fodder of law-review articles, commentaries, and conference panels, and eventually permeate the classroom teaching that forms the next generation of judges, lawyers and scholars. To bypass the opportunity to strengthen a conservative intellectual core — an elite — on the Court is not to make it a populist protector of freedom, but to abandon the field to the liberal elite. If the president does not appreciate this, there is no reassurance another nominee would be any better, and Democrats would surely feel more liberated then to jump on any candidate of substance.

The nomination of Harriet Miers is another chapter in the lost promise of the Reagan revolution. From the heady days of the 1980s, there have been so many missteps, perhaps including the selection of the current president's father as the custodian of the Reagan revolution. The judicial legacy of the Bushes has been raised hopes and dashed expectations: The father left us Thomas, but also Souter; the son brings Roberts, but now Miers. This may be Bush's last opportunity to make an imprint on the Supreme Court, unless health forces Justice Stevens off the bench. The next resignation may well be that of Justice Scalia, fleeing in frustration."

Professor Coyle is, well, a professor, so his doom, gloom, every man for himself, the world is ending, praise the lord and pass the ammunition approach to a discussion of Miz Harriet is generated from behind the ivy'd walls that can greatly impeded a clear view of reality. Scalia isn't going anywhere, he's made of far stronger stuff than that, the country will not come to an end if Miz Harriet somehow manages to charm the Judicial Committee, and all of this we're Republicans and we're smart too hysteria will peter out after Miers proves herself to be a quick study and relies upon Scalia and Thomas generated cheat-sheets to at least provide a caretakership of sorts for the constitution.

None of us are aware of what skeletons may reside within the closets of far more qualified candidates, just as none of us, save for Laura Bush perhaps, are aware of precisely why George Bush made such a poor decision. But to believe for even one New York Nanosecond that he and he alone made this decision without input from a host of advisors is naive. We aren't privy to the big picture because for us to know would be for the loony left to know, and while I am not one to trust a public servant any farther than I can throw him, there really doesn't seem to be much choice. He isn't fond of backing down once dug in, and Miz Harriet has proven to be the worst possible advisor a leader could have as she does not seem to want to take one for the team and remove herself from consideration.

Strike that. Sure she should have said no from the beginning, but I'll bet my share of all the tea in China that she's at least once asked to take a pass on this one. How can I think that? It's easy. I simply cannot imagine a true patriot allowing this to happen without trying to jump on the grenade before it harms others. She's either all of what he's told us and wouldn't stand idly by while the rafters fell, or she's the bad joke most people say she is and I don't want to believe the worst of someone I've never met and know so little about.

I'll be surprised if she makes it past the hearings, I truly will, but that comes from living a life preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. It isn't as if she will be up against Solomon and Moses here, and she is, after all, a lawyer so lying with a straight face shouldn't come all that hard to her, but it's back to that conservative dislike for being categorized as a redneck that irks me as much as the next guy. I want her to do well but I cannot see how she can. Biden and Kennedy and Schumer and Feinstein and even Dick the Turbin will have had their respective staffs digging deep to find something, ANYTHING to expose her lack of familiarity with constitutional law and "I'll get back to you on that, Senator" isn't going to cut it.