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Harriet Miers

From dKosopedia

(Harriet Miers goes through documents with Bush, August 6th, 2001. (Source). It was on this day she handed him the presidential daily briefing entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."

From Sourcewatch: Harriet E. Miers:

Harriet E. Miers, served as White House Counsel from Feb. 2005 until her resignation effective Jan. 31. 2007. She served as assistant to the President, and was deputy chief of staff from 2003 to 2005. Miers was nominated by President George W. Bush October 3, 2005, as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. However, on October 27 she withdrew her name from consideration, saying her nomination presented a "burden for the White House."

After leaving the White House staff, she rejoined her old law firm of Locke Liddell & Sapp. She will be based in Washington, D.C. ([1])

Bush and Miers in a Nutshell
"George Bush wants Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court for one reason, and one reason alone. The president -- and his minions -- want to concentrate an unprecedented amount of power in the executive branch. And Bush wants to use that power to further take away your rights, to use the military to keep order here at home -- and God knows what else." --Attytood, October 5, 2005.

Bush Knew
"... she was right there for half the cases that she would be asked to decide on, from the torture policy to third-trimester abortions to the Patriot Act to releases of documents to assisted suicide. To not believe that Bush knows is to be played for a fool once again." --The Rude Pundit, October 3, 2005. [Caution: Article contains objectionable language.]

Miers handed Bush the August 6, 2001, Presidential Daily Brief
When announcing Miers as Bush's Supreme Court nominee on Monday, October 3, 2005, the New York Times published a photo of Miers "going over a briefing paper with President George W. Bush at his Crawford ranch in August 2001, the caption reads," Editor & Publisher Staff reported October 4, 2005. "USA Today and the Boston Globe carried the photo labeled simply 2001, but many other newspapers ran the picture in print or on the Web with a more precise date: Aug. 6, 2001."

"Does that date sound familiar?," E&P asks. "Indeed, that was the date, a little over a month before 9/11, that President Bush was briefed on the now-famous 'PDB' that declared that Osama Bin Laden was 'determined' to attack the U.S. homeland, perhaps with hijacked planes. But does that mean that Miers had anything to do with that briefing?

"As it turns out, yes, according to Tuesday's Los Angeles Times," E&P wrote. "An article by Richard A. Serrano and Scott Gold observes that early in the Bush presidency 'Miers assumed such an insider role that in 2001 it was she who handed Bush the crucial 'presidential daily briefing' hinting at terrorist plots against America just a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.'"

Valerie Plame
"By nominating Harriet Miers for a seat on the Supreme Court, President Bush has not simply named a member of his political staff -- and his onetime personal lawyer -- for one of the most powerful positions in the nation; he has named a staff member who was likely privy to the most confidential of material as other White House staffers planned their leak of Valerie Plame’s identity as a CIA agent." --Adele M. Stan, The American Prospect, October 3, 2005.


Contents

Bush Ultra-Loyalist

"While her loyalty to Bush is unquestioned, Democrats publicly and Republicans privately wondered about her qualifications for the high court." [2]

Miers, a Bush "longtime confidante," was formerly his personal lawyer in Texas and "came with him to the White House in 2001 as staff secretary, the person who screens all the documents that cross the president's desk. She was promoted to deputy chief of staff before Bush named her counsel after his reelection in November. She replaced Alberto R. Gonzales, another longtime Bush confidant, who was elevated to attorney general." [3]

Miers also "served as general counsel for the transition team of Governor-elect George W. Bush in 1994." [4]

According to her American Justice Partnership profile, in the White House Miers:

"Alberto Gonzales was recommended to Bush as counsel in the Texas Governorship by Harriet Miers ...." [5]

Bush was "reaching into his loyal inner circle for a pick that could reshape the nation's judiciary for years to come." [6]

Profiles

White House Biography

Upon her nomination as White House Counsel November 17, 2004, the White House issued the following biography:

"Most recently, Miers served as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary. Prior to that, she was Co-Managing Partner at Locke Liddell & Sapp, LLP. Previously, she was President of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell, where she worked from 1972 until 1999. From 1995 until 2000, she was chair of the Texas Lottery Commission. In 1992, Harriet became the first woman president of the Texas State Bar, and in 1985 she became the first woman president of the Dallas Bar Association. She also served as a Member-At-Large on the Dallas City Council. Harriet received both her undergraduate and law degrees from Southern Methodist University."

American Bar Association

Miers "concentrates her practice in the areas of commercial litigation, including antitrust and trade regulations and intellectual property disputes." [7]

Commercial Litigator

"Ms. Miers had a distinguished career as a trial litigator, representing such clients as Microsoft, Walt Disney Company and SunGard Data Systems Inc. Moreover, when she left her law firm of Locke, Liddell & Sapp, Ms. Miers was serving as Co-Managing Partner of the firm which had more than 400 lawyers." [8]

As a "commercial litigator," Miers also represented Republic National Bank. [9]

Tort Reform

Miers was the keynote speaker April 5, 2005, before the American Tort Reform Association:

"Harriet Miers, Counsel to the President, echoed the need for legal reform, saying that the President fully supports reforms to end lawsuit abuse. She pointed out that while the Class Action Fairness Act took almost seven years to pass in the Congress, the President intends to make comprehensive legal reform a priority in his second term."

Judicial "Vetting" & Obsession with Detail

When she moved into position as to White House Counsel:

"She did raise some eyebrows early in Bush's first term by arguing against eliminating the American Bar Association's 50-year-old role of vetting potential federal judiciary nominations, a move led by Gonzales. (The ABA was removed from the vetting process in March 2001.)"
"Her critics say the problem goes beyond what Miers does or doesn't know about policy -- and right back to a near-obsession with detail and process."
"'She failed in [Andrew] Card's office for two reasons,' the official says. 'First, because she can't make a decision, and second, because she can't delegate, she can't let anything go. And having failed for those two reasons, they move her to be the counsel for the president, which requires exactly those two talents.' ... Responds White House Deputy Counsel David J. Leitch: 'She certainly delegates. She couldn't possibly dream of doing any of these jobs, this job or the job she has now, without delegating.'"

Issues & Controversies

Gay Rights

"I'm not sure this questionnaire provides any definitive answers about Harriet Miers and gay rights - many of her answers aren't great - but it sure raises a number of questions. And I wouldn't want to be the Bush administration right about now, trying to answer why their wonder candidate was sucking up to gay groups as early as the 1980s (not that there's anything wrong with that :-)," Aravosis commented.
"Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers went on record favoring equal civil rights for gays when she ran for Dallas city council, and she said the city had a responsibility to pay for AIDS education and patient services.
"But Miers opposed repeal of the Texas sodomy statute — a law later overturned by the court on which she will sit if confirmed — in a survey she filled out for a gay-rights group during her successful 1989 campaign."

Abortion

"'Our current position (in favor of abortion rights) has no meaning unless it is endorsed in fact by the membership' Miers said at the time."

Related Links

Reaction to Nomination

"She has a reputation for being loyal to this president, whom she has a long history of serving as a close adviser and in working to advance his objectives. In an administration intent on accumulating executive power, Ms. Miers' views on and role in these issues will be important for the Senate to examine." — Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee." [14]

Related Links

Campaign Contributions

SourceWatch Resources

On-Going Coverage

External Links

Profiles

Documents

-From Sourcewatch: Harriet E. Miers

[|Sourcewatch Articles & Commentary]

Retrieved from "http://localhost../../../h/a/r/Harriet_Miers_ae2c.html"

This page was last modified 15:14, 19 April 2007 by dKosopedia user Corncam. Based on work by dKosopedia user(s) Allamakee Democrat, Lotlizard, PatriotismOverProfits and DaveOinSF. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.


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