Stand Down

Miers signals to the right, uselessly.
By Emily Bazelon
Posted Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005, at 2:08 PM PT

Harriet Miers tried. She tried to reassure conservatives in her written responses to the Senate judiciary committee, and not only by handing over evidence that in the past she supported a near-total constitutional ban on abortion. Miers also signaled that she supports another fond hope of the right—shutting the doors of the federal courthouse to annoying plaintiffs, like the ones who don't like Ten Commandments displays in government buildings or clear-cutting in government forests. On the subject of raising the bar for the sorts of cases to be heard in a court, Miers was tapping out signals as furiously as John Roberts did. Maybe more furiously. But code gets the desired message across only when the receivers trust the sender.