Bush predicts confirmation of court-nominee Miers

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush on Friday
predicted White House lawyer Harriet Miers would win
confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court despite conservative
complaints including some calls to withdraw her nomination.

“She’ll be confirmed and … people will see a fantastic
woman who is honest, open, humble and capable of being a great
Supreme Court judge,” Bush said.

The president has been pelted with criticisms from
disappointed conservatives since he nominated Miers, his White
House counsel, for a lifetime appointment on the highest U.S.
court on Monday.

They say Bush missed a chance to pick an experienced judge
with clear-cut conservative credentials who would firmly move
the court to the right on such social issues as abortion, gay
rights and church-state separation.

Although some conservatives have supported the nomination,
others have suggested Bush withdraw it and submit a new name.

“If Harriet Miers were not a crony of the president of the
United States, her nomination to the Supreme Court would be a
joke, as it would have occurred to no one else to nominate
her,” conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote on
Friday.

Bush brushed off questions about whether he would withdraw
Miers’ nomination and played down her lack of judicial
experience.

“She didn’t come from the bench. But a lot of other people
didn’t come from the bench when they were named for the Supreme
Court,” including late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Bush
told reporters. Rehnquist’s death last month at age 80 afforded
Bush his second nomination to the high court.

His first choice, now Chief Justice John Roberts, was
confirmed by the Senate last week. He was widely praised for
his experience as a federal appeals judge and as an attorney
who had argued dozens of Supreme Court cases.

Miers was chosen to succeed the retiring Sandra Day
O’Connor, the first woman Supreme Court justice and a moderate
conservative who has been a key swing vote in court decisions.

‘DIFFERENT STANDARD’

Bush noted Miers was the first woman partner at her law
firm and the first woman president of the Texas bar
association. “Harriet Miers is an extraordinary nominee. She is
a pioneer in the law in Texas,” he said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, bemoaning a
“different standard” Miers was being held to, listed her
qualifications.

“She was clerking for a federal district judge back in 1970
… She has served in some of the highest positions of our
nation’s government,” he said.

“She has had to address a wide range of legal issues. She
has served as a city councilwoman. She has served as a state
official. And she has tried many cases before state and federal
courts.”

The suggestion Bush withdraw the nomination was not echoed
on Capitol Hill, where many Senate Republicans, even some who
have expressed concerns about Miers, said they expected her to
be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate.

Sen. Mike DeWine, a Ohio Republican, called the suggestion
Bush withdraw the nomination “absurd.”

“She is a good pick and will be confirmed,” he said.

However, said Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican,
“Will she be confirmed with a lot of passion? That I don’t
know.”

Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican, said he called
Miers on Thursday night “to reassure her of my strong opinion
that she will eventually be confirmed by the Senate.”

Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania
Republican who will head Miers’ confirmation hearing likely to
be held next month, said critics should “give her a chance to
be heard.”

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland)