Monday, October 03, 2005

Here come the non-judge

While John Roberts was sworn in as the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Bush wastes little time in proposing another replacement to the bench in Harriet Miers. It’s still early to tell what, if anything, will impede her progress to the position, but the most glaring tidbit is the fact that she’s never been a judge. With her being a long-time White House confidant, I’m guessing the Democrats will have a few more alarm bells going off this time around.

Roberts was able to make a relatively smooth entrance into the Justice Chambers due to cleanliness and ambiguity. People didn’t have much to say for or against him mostly because Roberts refused to reveal his opinion on matters such as Roe v Wade. The optimist in me will hope that this virtue will carry on when he is in power, but the alarmist in me is wondering if he’s just smart enough to keep his mouth shut until it’s too late for us to do anything.

Fortunately, history has taught us that America’s forefathers masterfully arranged the terms of a Supreme Court Justices’ tenure in a way that would free him or her of any political ties and agendas. Most conservative appointees have veered more towards the ideologic center once on the bench, and it’s hopeful that Roberts will continue the trend.

So what about Miers? It may be too early to tell, but it seems she may be prudent enough to follow Roberts’ lead and claim to be nonpartisan and free of any political agenda. Or is she just faking it?

She won’t be the first non-judge appointee but more worrisome to me is the proximity of involvement and influence Bush will have on Miers. We’ll just have to wait for a clearer scenario.

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