Senators Reject Miers' Replies to Questions
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers, already troubled by a lack of enthusiasm on Capitol Hill, ran into more rough ground Wednesday when senators from both parties rejected her responses to a questionnaire as insufficient.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and the panel's top Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, complained that her answers were at best incomplete -- Leahy said some lawmakers considered them insulting -- and asked Miers to resubmit answers to some of the questions, especially those about her work in the White House as counsel to President Bush.
"Sen. Leahy and I took a look at it and agreed that it was insufficient and are sending back a detailed letter asking for amplification on many, many of the items," Specter said at a news conference.
It was the latest problem for Miers and the White House in a nomination that has attracted much criticism and mostly lukewarm support, even from the president's most ardent backers.
Specter said it was too soon to say Miers was "in trouble." But he described her nomination process as chaotic and said it was being further confused by backdoor messages from the White House intended to reassure conservative leaders -- some of whom went public about those discussions -- about what she would be like as a judge.
"What I'm referring to are all of the forces which are at work out here commanding media attention and commanding public attention," Specter said. "There's been more controversy before this nominee has uttered a formal word than I have ever heard."
He and Leahy asked their colleagues to withhold judgment until after Miers' confirmation hearings, scheduled to begin Nov. 7.
When Bush nominated Miers to the high court this month, he told skeptics that they would appreciate her virtues as soon as they got to know her. But after meeting with more than 20 members of the Senate and delivering the 57-page questionnaire to the committee Tuesday, Miers seems no closer to winning them over.
She had a misunderstanding with Specter over what she told him about the right to privacy. She stumbled over a softball question from Leahy about whom she most admired among past Supreme Court justices. Even some Republicans who are inclined to support her came out of their meetings damning her with faint praise.
"I might have liked a different type nominee myself, but that's the president's choice," Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said after his meeting with Miers.
