WASHINGTON — With conservative criticism mounting over the nomination of Harriet E. Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court, President Bush defended his pick during his weekly radio address Saturday, saying he was delivering on what he promised -- "a good conservative judge."
"I chose Harriet Miers for the court both because of her accomplishments and because I know her character and her judicial philosophy," he said.
"Throughout her life, Ms. Miers has excelled at everything she has done. She's been a leader and a trailblazer for women lawyers, and her work has earned the respect of attorneys across the nation," Bush said, offering a detailed biography of the woman conservatives say lacks the ideological track record needed to shift the direction of the high court.
The 60-year-old Miers, his White House legal counsel, Bush recounted, grew up in Dallas, attended public schools and worked to help pay her way through college when her father became ill.
The speech revealed no new insights about the nominee, who has long been a member of Bush's inner circle. But the full-bodied defense suggested the president was not inclined to withdraw her name, as was called for by Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol and conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer termed her nomination "scandalous."
Miers spent the week visiting key senators in an attempt to assuage misgivings, with mixed results. Even after a face-to-face, the usually loyal Sam Brownback of Kansas remained ambivalent about endorsing her.
Indeed, some of her most sympathetic defenders were turning out to be Democrats.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland called the GOP critics "sexist" and accused them of holding "a double standard."
"All of a sudden they're saying that a woman who was able to become head of the Texas Bar Assn. isn't qualified. They're saying a woman who was one of the first to head up a major law firm with over 400 lawyers doesn't have intellectual heft," Mikulski said, adding that she would withhold judgment of Miers until after the confirmation hearings.
It is uncertainty about Miers' position on Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 high court decision that established a right to abortion, that concerns evangelical conservatives most. Miers is a member of an evangelical church, but no record of her position on whether that decision should stand has been produced.
