Harriet Who? Crony for Life

Feeling the heat with low poll numbers (not to mention pressure from the missus) Dubya has nominated another woman to fill Justice Sandra Day O'Conner's seat on the Supreme Court:

Harriet Miers.

Who? Well, Miers is a White House lawyer, with no judicial experience, but considered capable and hard-working. Her most important credentials however, have to be (1) no paper trail; and (2) her devotion to the Word of Bush.

With no judicial background, there isn't much record to evaluate. An experienced trial lawyer, Miers will dodge and weave past the inevitable questions on her stance on abortion and other hot topics, and the debate will go nowhere because there won't be any Miers-made case law to use as evidence of her opinions (or opinion-making). Miers is undoubtedly a staunch conservative (otherwise she wouldn't be working in the Bush White House) but how much of a judicial activist she is will remain to be seen -- if she is confirmed, she may hew to the center, steer the Court even further to the right, or act as a swing vote the way O'Connor has.

Miers is also known as a devout Bush loyalist, which is probably the most fundamental reason she was selected. No surprise there, considering the Shrub's penchant for surrounding himself by cronies of varying levels of competence. But consider this description from conservative David Frum:

In the White House that hero worshipped the president, Miers was distinguished by the intensity of her zeal: She once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met.

Great. That's just who we need on the Supreme Court, making decisions and shaping law that will affect our lives for decades -- someone who is dazzled by the, ahem, brilliance of George w. Bush.