Dobson Clarifies Insight Offered by White House on Nominee Miers
by Jody Brown and Bill Fancher
October 12, 2005
(AgapePress) - If any Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee had plans to subpoena Dr. James Dobson and force him -- under oath -- to reveal what the White House had told him about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, the pro-family leader may have just taken the wind out of their sails. The Focus on the Family founder says during a conversation with Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove -- two days before President Bush announced Miers' nomination to the high court -- it was revealed to him that Miss Miers is an evangelical Christian who attends a "very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life." Since that time, all that information has become public knowledge. But at no time during his talk with Rove, says Dobson, was the nominee's possible stand on Roe v. Wade mentioned.
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Dr. James Dobson |
"Karl Rove didn't tell me anything about the way Harriet Miers would vote on cases that may come before the Supreme Court," Dobson stated on his Wednesday morning (October 12) broadcast. "We did not discuss Roe v. Wade in any context or any other pending issue that will be considered by the Court." Read Dobson's comments in full
Dobson acknowledged that while he personally would have "loved" to know Miers' views on the landmark 1973 abortion ruling, such "incendiary information" was never part of the discussion. He believes that even if Rove had known that information -- "... and I'm certain that he didn't," says Dobson -- he would not have divulged it.
In other words, noted Dobson, the Rove conversation was essentially a "characterization" of Harriet Miers provided before President Bush had actually made his decision. And despite the pro-family leader's insistence it did not go beyond that, Dobson says Democrats have speculated that Rove laid out a "detailed promise" that Miss Miers, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, would vote to overturn Roe. "It did not happen -- period!" Dobson stated emphatically.
As to reports that either Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter or the committee's top Democrat, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, could still call him to testify, Dobson had this to say: "[I]f they want to do that, then I just suggest that they quit talking about [it] and just go do it. I have nothing to hide and I'll be happy to come and talk to [them]. But I won't have anything to say that I haven't just told millions of people [listening to the broadcast]."
So then, if Dobson had no assurances how Miers might rule on socially and morally important issues that might come before the Supreme Court -- abortion, for example -- why did he come out in support of her? According to the Focus on the Family leader, Rove and others -- including two judges who know Miers quite well -- indicated to him that she fits the mold for Bush judicial appointments.
"... Karl Rove had shared with me her judicial philosophy, which was consistent with the promises that President Bush had made when he was campaigning," Dobson shared, noting the president's promise to appoint strict constructionists who would not legislate from the bench. "Mr. Rove assured me ... that Harriet Miers fit that description and that the president knew her well enough to say so with complete confidence."
Trust Me?
That apparent "trust me" rationale, however, is not enough to convince conservative icon Paul Weyrich, a longtime activist on the Washington, DC, scene. He says he has his doubts about President Bush's judicial nominations -- especially Harriet Miers.
Paul Weyrich | |
Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation, says he is not fond of the first two Supreme Court nominations coming from this administration. He says he did manage to find evidence that John Roberts, the newly-installed chief justice of the high court, was a strong intellect and a conservative, which made him palatable in Weyrich's eyes. But this second nomination? "In terms of Ms. Miers, none of us knows anything about her," Weyrich observes. "I've been around here for almost 40 years, and I've had in that time five 'trust me's' with regard to the Supreme Court -- and six is a bridge too far."
Weyrich remembers Richard Nixon saying "trust me" about Harry Blackmun, who authored the majority opinion on Roe v. Wade during his tenure on the high court; Gerald Ford saying "trust me" about John Paul Stevens; and former U.S. Solicitor General Ken Starr saying "trust me" on Sandra Day O'Connor. And he recalls similar assurances about now-Supreme Court justices Anthony Kennedy and David Souter.
"Not only did I get three calls from [former White House chief of staff] John Sununu [regarding Souter], but ... Meldrim Thompson, arguably the most right-wing governor [New Hampshire] ever to have served in modern times, ... said to me that he would stake his career on the idea that we would love David Souter," says Weyrich.
All five of those "trust me" nominees, says the conservative spokesman, wound up coming down on the liberal side of most high court rulings, despite being nominated by Republican presidents. He says it will take a "great performance" during confirmation hearings to win his support for Miss Miers, the latest "trust me" nominee offered by the White House.
