WASHINGTON — In new signs of eroding support for Harriet E. Miers, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman sent her a sharply worded list of questions Wednesday on constitutional law, and one of the nation's leading grass-roots evangelical organizations called for the withdrawal of her Supreme Court nomination.
Concerned Women for America, one of the nation's largest Christian advocacy groups, changed its "wait-and-see" position after reading speeches she gave in the early 1990s in which she supported, among other things, "the freedom of the individual woman's right to decide for herself whether she will have an abortion."
The speeches "indicate a radical feminist worldview, a penchant for judicial activism, race and sex quotas, a liberal characterization of the abortion debate and government spending, and an inability to articulate her positions clearly," the group said in a statement.
"We do not think there is anything she could say at her hearing that would satisfy our concerns," Jan LaRue, chief counsel of Concerned Women for America, said in an interview.
White House officials played down the development, repeating that Miers would have a chance to prove herself to critics at Senate confirmation hearings scheduled to begin Nov. 7.
Miers' nomination has come under increased pressure in recent days as conservative opposition against her has coalesced. Two websites urging her withdrawal -- www.withdrawmiers.org and www.betterjustice.com -- began operating this week, and anti-Miers ads began airing Wednesday on cable TV and radio.
The nomination process has also been hampered by a lack of enthusiasm even from White House allies. One of them, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, sent Miers a letter Wednesday listing 10 questions he planned to ask during the confirmation hearing, most of which concerned treatment of terrorist detainees and limits on executive branch authority.
"What assurances can you give the Senate and the American people that you will be independent, if confirmed, and not give President Bush any special deference on any matter involving him which might come before the court?" Specter asked in the letter.
Specter prepared similar letters for the previous Supreme Court nominee, Chief Justice John G. Roberts. But in light of complaints that Miers lacks legal stature and is too close to the president to be a check on executive power, Specter's questions to her had a notable edge.
