White House Counsel Harriet Miers, whose nomination to the Supreme Court was scuttled in 2005 by Republicans who doubted her conservative credentials, has resigned, the White House announced Thursday.
The resignation, effective Jan. 31, could leave President Bush without his top lawyer just as Democrats take over Congress and prepare various investigations of the administration. But White House Press Secretary Tony Snow assured reporters that Bush will have plenty of legal representation.
“If some members within the Democratic Party decide that they want to engage in political acts of that sort, we will certainly be prepared,” he warned.
Miers told Bush of her resignation on Wednesday after she held several conversations with White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, who has been shaking up the staff since taking his post nine months ago.
“It is one of these things where everybody really — it’s very bittersweet,” Snow said. “She has decided that it’s time to move on.”
On Oct. 3, 2005, Bush nominated Miers, a longtime friend, to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had recommended Miers to Bush, who liked the fact that she didn’t have a controversial paper trail that could be attacked during confirmation hearings.
“It’s important to bring somebody from outside the system, the judicial system, somebody that hasn’t been on the bench and, therefore, there’s not a lot of opinions for people to look at,” Bush reasoned.
But Republicans immediately questioned Miers’ legal qualifications and conservative credentials. They noted that she gave $1,000 to Democrat Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 1988. Five years later, she gave a speech that seemed to explain abortion as a manifestation of women’s “self-determination.”
With Republican support crumbling, Miers withdrew her name from consideration on Oct. 27, 2005. Bush later said the setback was particularly painful because he was so close to Miers.
“I was sad,” he said in an interview for the book “Strategery,” which was excerpted in The Examiner. “I thought Harriet didn’t get a fair shake, that people jumped to conclusions about Harriet before she had a chance to make her case.”
Asked if he had misjudged the loyalty of his conservative base, Bush replied, “People should stand on principle based upon what they believe, not based upon [whether] they should be loyal to me.”
During six years in the White House, Miers oversaw the nomination of federal judges, including Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who was tapped to take her spot after she withdrew from consideration.
“Participating in the process to help identify the best nominees for the American people has been among the most rewarding of my experiences,” Miers wrote Bush in a resignation letter Thursday.
