Judicial Noms will Face a New Headhunter

White House Counsel Harriet Miers resigned yesterday. Ms. Miers is best known for her nomination to the the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Ms. Miers withdrew her nomination after the president's conservative base resisted her nomination since, according to them, she wasn’t conservative enough. President Bush then nominated Samuel Alito to the seat. As White House Counsel, Harriet Miers has played a key roll throughout the past six years in choosing nominees for federal court vacancies.

In a praise-filled letter to the president, Ms. Miers stated:

Among actions a President takes with the longest and deepest impact are appointments to the Federal judiciary. … Your commitment to nominating judges who will interpret the law and who know the proper role of a judge has made this Nation stronger and our justice system fairer.

Ummm... is it opposite day or something? The last time we checked, President Bush’s judicial nominees have been doing everything they can to advance the hard right's political agenda. (For a few examples, see here, here, here and here). We can only hope that Ms. Miers' successor will pick judges who are independent and fair-minded.