All over social media I keep seeing comparisons of Gaetz and Kennedy to the Harriet Miers SCOTUS nominations. Those are pretty offensive. The issue with Miers was she was famous for her judgment and trust she engendered. But she didn’t have elite fedsoc qualifications. - ThreadSky

rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social • 101 days ago

All over social media I keep seeing comparisons of Gaetz and Kennedy to the Harriet Miers SCOTUS nominations. Those are pretty offensive.

The issue with Miers was she was famous for her judgment and trust she engendered. But she didn’t have elite fedsoc qualifications.

Comments

alkali19.bsky.social•101 days ago

indeed, Miers should have been a no-brainer in terms of qualifications — state bar president, managing partner, White House counsel, state government, etc. — perhaps only O'Connor had a comparable range of experience in recent memory?

khuddleston.bsky.social•101 days ago

Or *any* judicial experience when nominated to SCOTUS, right?

rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social•101 days ago

True, but that’s not a huge deal historically.

khuddleston.bsky.social•101 days ago

True - but I think a major factor at the time and in current perception of the Miers nomination, given that from President Ford on they’d all had judicial experience.

rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social•101 days ago

Yep. I still think there was more chatter about her educational and work background and lack of ideological bona fides, but the judicial stuff was in there.

southof635.bsky.social•101 days ago

Was at SMU Law when she was nominated. It was a big deal there, obviously, and everyone was pretty offended by the suggestions at the time that she wasn’t qualified for having attended SMU and not an Ivy.

fnurt.bsky.social•101 days ago

Harriet Miers occupies a place similar to James Stockdale in the public imagination and both are wildly unfair. The horse lawyer who Bush appointed to run FEMA would be a much better comparison, can't believe everyone has forgotten that one.

pulie2011.bsky.social•101 days ago

Michael Brown

cseguin03.bsky.social•101 days ago

Agreed. The closer analogy is probably the Nixon Supreme Court picks (Haynsworth and Carswell), though there are differences there as well.

jjl.bsky.social•101 days ago

I mocked the Miers appointment at the time and it was a mistake born of elitism, something I learned from.

Opposition to Gaetz comes from a far more solid foundation.

jkjordaniii.bsky.social•101 days ago

We could all be so lucky to have her on the court. Hell, Trump’s sister, too.

carlcecere.bsky.social•101 days ago

This is absolutely true. Harriet Miers would have acquitted herself perfectly well at SCOTUS. The sole knock on her was that she wasn’t in the super-elite credential-collecting club we’re accustomed to among SCOTUS nominees.

carlcecere.bsky.social•101 days ago

Whereas the current crop of Trump Cabinet nominees are terrible across every dimension. They’ll do the job poorly, corruptly, and with evil intent.

gm0rk.bsky.social•101 days ago

Don't forget that they'll drive out all institutional knowledge and every public servant that even wants to help people.

If we're very lucky, it'll only take one or two generations to rebuild what they're going to destroy.

carlcecere.bsky.social•101 days ago

I mean I don't plan here to outline every problem with the current crop. That'd take many days. My point is don't compare those jokers to Miers.

rmholt.bsky.social•100 days ago

That’s interesting. I did not understand the appointment attempt or the tumult over it.

kewlboromir.bsky.social•101 days ago

Wasn't the only real issue with Miers the lack of assurance she would vote to overturn Roe?

jrkanji1.bsky.social•101 days ago

Miers is the ultimate case of buyers remorse for the left. Not that I think in the end it would have mattered. The right is what fully tanked her in the end.

sableloon.bsky.social•101 days ago

Exactly. My recollection is they were worried she’d be another Souter—no paper trail of her conservative bona fides.

txtriallawyer.bsky.social•101 days ago

I mean apples to oranges is too easy here. To suggest Gaetz and Miers occupy anything similar is obscene. Not even in the same universes (multi-verses?). Really lazy comparison for sure.

evanbernick.bsky.social•101 days ago

Totally different dynamic

rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social•101 days ago

The current two are, you know, terrible people in every possible way. They have nothing to do with the universally respected (in Texas) Miers.

joegordon.bsky.social•101 days ago

Fair. In 2005 when she was nominated, I’d spent 4+ years being salty about SCOTUS choosing who the President would be, and then that guy allowing 9/11 to happen, and then going to war in Iraq. I was happy to see him take an L. But I think I didn’t scorn her, just the guy who picked her.

kinseyholley.bsky.social•101 days ago

Miers was rejected because she wasn't an academic elite - which is why I supported her. She was a real lawyer who saw real cases and the real effects of SCOTUS decisions.

Gaetz is a teenager trafficking rapist, and not a smart one.

judyprincz.bsky.social•101 days ago

Agree. Kennedy, Gaetz nominations are in a league of awfulness of their own. I don’t think we’ve ever had such utter garbage nominations before.

rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social•101 days ago

Especially now that’s I’m a pretty long tenured Texas lawyer, Miers’ reputation among Texas lawyers is what you’d want for yourself.

rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social•101 days ago

Did I understand this when I was in my 20s during the Miers nomination? No. I was a dum dum. But it’s true.

adambonin.bsky.social•101 days ago

I serve on the Legal Services Corporation's Leaders Council, which Miers co-chairs. Her commitment to civil legal aid for the poor, for veterans, for those who have experienced natural disasters is so laudable.

realbenisons.bsky.social•101 days ago

iirc Miers nom was sunk by rightists who objected to her "squishy" legal views esp on abortion

agree comparisons are offensive
+ headlines framing Gaetz, RFK Jr, Kash Patel as merely "unexpected" or "controversial" are offensive in their own way

btw Harvard Crimson panned Brennan recess appt

realbenisons.bsky.social•101 days ago

1956: William Brennan was "commendable" but "undistinguished" per Harvard Crimson

bonuchikc.bsky.social•101 days ago

This thread is great and illuminating for me. I'm sure back then, as a know it all law student, I dunked on her nomination. Reflecting on that is a little cringey. Yet its also empowering and comforting, to bask in the wisdom time and experience bring.

rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social•101 days ago

Yeah, I did the same. We live and learn.

bethwilensky.bsky.social•101 days ago

I wonder if it's more like "If we manage to sink this nomination, we could easily end up with someone even worse." (I know that Miers didn't have FedSoc support, but liberals didn't like her either - and in hindsight would have almost certainly preferred her to Alito.)

kendylhanks.bsky.social•101 days ago

I think this is definitely what people mean. And we could (may) end up w a much worse nom. But the comparison feels like dragging HM through the muck by suggesting she was an unqualified hack for those who don’t know her. I hate to see it for the reasons Raffi mentions.

rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social•101 days ago

I suspect that is what is meant, but I think those folks should acknowledge the difference between those kinds of people. Or maybe pick a different failed nominee - worse nominee pair. It’s unfair to a very accomplished and respected person.

bethwilensky.bsky.social•101 days ago

Absolutely.

fwordleproblems.bsky.social•101 days ago

Also -- and I know we should never say things like this but I cannot help it -- could there BE anyone worse than Matt Gaetz? As an Attorney General or as a human being? It's genuinely hard to imagine!

pulie2011.bsky.social•101 days ago

Tulsi Gabbard as DNI

bethwilensky.bsky.social•101 days ago

Oh, I think there are. People who are as bad as him policy-wise and revenge-wise, but more competent.

amykristinsanders.bsky.social•101 days ago

Thy name be Ken Paxton.

mcogswell.bsky.social•101 days ago

Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz or Rudy Guliani if he still had a bar card. To me, Paxton is the worst of the bunch.

jgiu.bsky.social•101 days ago

And the media and some dems treating said person as serious or not extreme because their nomination follows Gaetz or Kennedy

fwordleproblems.bsky.social•101 days ago

Ha yeah that's almost certainly true. Which is why it's such an incredibly stupid move, frankly. Trump could have had any number of dead-eyed legal goons who AREN'T already famous for being utter degenerates. But he had to have HIS guy, the one who kisses his ass.

justinlawguy.bsky.social•101 days ago

It is once again our best hope that Trump's incompetence tempers his malevolence.

dustcongress.bsky.social•101 days ago

and nixing her got us alito

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