Harriet the Sly

Why does James Dobson like Miers so much?
By John Dickerson
Posted Monday, Oct. 3, 2005, at 4:09 PM PT

When John Roberts appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, senators treated him like a legal god, Solomon crossed with John Marshall, with a touch of Hammurabi. They trembled just to be in the room with him. Even the Democrats who voted against him moaned, "We are not worthy."

This won't be the problem, to put it mildly, with Harriet Miers. As we struggle to learn what, if anything, she believes, we're all going to become experts in the unfamiliar positions she held—from staff secretary in the White House to lottery commissioner in Texas. Was she the one spinning the wheel on the Pick Five? Whatever we learn, the initial judgment will stick: fine lawyer, no legal giant.