Miers, Bush's Lawyer, Selected for U.S. Supreme Court

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg)—U.S. President George W. Bush chose White House Counsel Harriet Miers, a fellow Texan and longtime confidant who has never served as a judge, to succeed swing vote Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court.

Miers, 60, would help determine the court's direction on abortion, affirmative action, gay rights and congressional power, issues on which O'Connor often cast the pivotal vote. She would become the third woman ever to sit on the high court.

"She has devoted her life to the rule of law and the cause of justice," Bush, with Miers at his side, said today in the Oval Office in Washington. "She will be an outstanding addition to the Supreme Court of the United States."

The selection of Miers may avert a showdown with Senate Democrats, who were threatening to block a vote if the White House chose a hard-line conservative. Miers, who would join Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the court's only women, was suggested to Bush as a possible nominee by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.

Reid today called Miers "a trailblazer for women" in her career as a Texas attorney. He said the court "would benefit from the addition of a justice who has real experience as a practicing lawyer."

Still, Democrats will face a challenge in assessing Miers, who built her career on giving private advice rather than making public pronouncements. She is the first Supreme Court nominee with no prior judicial experience since 1971, when Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist were appointed.

Conservatives Split

Democrats likely will question Miers about her efforts to rescind the American Bar Association position favoring abortion rights in the 1990s.

The announcement came just hours before new Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. presided over his first Supreme Court session across town. Roberts was confirmed last week by a 78-22 vote, with the backing of all 55 Republicans, 22 Democrats and one independent.

The nomination drew mixed reactions from conservatives. Leonard Leo, who is on leave from serving as executive vice president of the conservative Federalist Society in Washington, called her a "judicial conservative" who will "heed the founders' vision of the role of courts in our constitutional system."

Manuel Miranda, executive director of the Third Branch Conference, a Washington-based conservative advocacy group, said he will support Miers only reluctantly.

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