Justice nominee must be asked for her views
For many, it may seem that the announcement of a new Supreme Court nominee — Harriet Miers — and the swift and detailed parsing of her personal, political and judicial philosophies is a little extreme.
President Bush, after all, has the right to appoint the person he chooses. And her credentials as a staunch Bush loyalist should matter far less than her personal integrity and her abilities as a lawyer.
Indeed, it is those larger issues — life, death and social equity — that do matter. And these issues underscore the importance of Bush's decision.
Consider, for example, just a few of the issues that will be before the court this term as enumerated recently by the Washington Post:
That's just a sampling of what is on the docket this year alone. The Senate has both a right and an obligation to probe deeply into the nominee's thinking on these and other issues. The public deserves nothing less.
