Harriet Miers Vs. Miguel Estrada

20 Oct, 2005 by John Hawkins

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Laughably, George Bush has called Harriet Miers, the “best person I could find“ for the job of Supreme Court justice. Of course, that suggests that he didn’t look very far. If you don’t believe that, let’s compare Harriet Miers not to the average person, not to the average lawyer, but to another lawyer, with no experience on the bench, whose name had popped up as a Supreme Court candidate: Miguel Estrada.

Here is how Harriet Miers stacks up in a few key areas against Mr. Estrada, a man who would have been a legitimate and welcome nominee for the Supreme Court.

Harriet Miers

Age: 60

ABA Rating: No rating currently

Clerked for: Joe E. Estes, US District Judge

Democrats? They fear Miers so little that Harry Reid suggested her as a nominee.

Ideology? A pro-life squish who favors Affirmative Action & helped start a feminist lecture series.

Number of courtroom cases argued: 16

Other factors: Friends with the President.

Miguel Estrada

Age: 44

ABA Rating: “Well Qualified” (The highest rating)

Clerked for: Amalya L. Kearse, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Anthony M. Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice

Democrats? They feared Estrada so much they filibustered his nomination to the US Court of Appeals.

Ideology? “Super-conservative“. Friends with Ann Coulter.

Number of cases argued in front of the Supreme Court: 15

Other factors: Was an immigrant to the United States. Would be the first Latino ever to sit on the Supreme court.

Granted, there’s a lot more detail that could be added, but however you slice it, comparing Miers to Estrada is like comparing a Yugo to a Lamborghini and keep in mind: because he has never been a judge, Estrada could fairly be said to be less qualified than many of the other candidates for the job.

Part of the reason conservatives have gotten so furious at Bush is because with more than a dozen candidates of Miguel Estrada’s caliber or better, he chose a 4th rate crony with dubious conservative credentials as his nominee. If this is some sort of bad joke, Mr. President, now is the time to say, “just kidding.”