THE WITHDRAWAL of Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court threatens the country with a grinding political deadlock. At this time, it is imperative that the Republican Party and the Bush administration muster the political will to unite behind a new Supreme Court nominee that is acceptable to the moderate majority of the American people.
If conservative leaders fail to make compromises on the appointment, or if the Bush administration displays ineffective leadership on this issue, then business in the hall of the Congress will come to a screeching halt with consequences from New Orleans to Baghdad.
When President Bush announced that Miers had withdrawn her nomination during a press conference held last Thursday, it came as a surprise to virtually no one. Officially, Miers retracted her nomination because the Senate Judiciary Committee's request for documents relating to actions as a lawyer to the Bush White House "presents a burden for the White House and its staff and it is not in the best interest of the country."
In reality, everyone, probably including Miers herself, understands that Miers' nomination was squashed because of concerted opposition from the right wing of the Republican Party. Indeed, from the beginning, leading conservatives have aired concerns that Miers' judicial views are uncertain and have expressed frustration at the administration's decision not to nominate a strongly conservative candidate for the Supreme Court.
An article published Thursday on CNN.com noted that Bush ally Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, had told the White House that the Miers nomination would be opposed by leading conservatives, while Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist informed the administration that Miers would not have enough votes to be confirmed in the Senate.
With conservative Republicans still fuming over the Miers' nomination, they are sure to demand that Bush nominates a known strong conservative for the bench. Moreover, Bush is more vulnerable than ever to the demands made by his base, as his approval rating has fallen to eight percent among Democrats and 32 percent among independents, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted between Oct. 13 and 16.
All of this means that it is increasingly likely that Bush will be forced to nominate a strong conservative for the Supreme Court. With Democrats emboldened by the growing scandals connected with both Tom DeLay and the Valerie Plame affair, and with Bush's approval rating falling among independents, it is likely that Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid will be able to muster enough support from moderate Republican senators (like Olympia Snowe, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, R. Michael DeWine, John Warner and Lincoln Chaffe who all agreed to no longer vote on party lines in regardto filibusters), to defeat an arch-conservative nominee.
In short, it seems almost inevitable that the nation is set for a major political crisis.
While a political deadlock is always bad for the country, it would be particularly devastating at this moment. With crucial stages of reconstruction taking place in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and with the continued instability in Iraq, it is vital that Congress stays focused on dealing with the pressing tasks at hand.
If Congress is distracted with a partisan showdown, the situation in both the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico could worsen as Congressional oversight is forsaken in favor of a drag-out political brawl.
Moreover, once the American people see their political leaders bickering while survivors of Hurricane Katrina languish and soldiers in Iraq continue to face a violently unstable situation, it is likely that they will increasingly lose faith in their political leadership. This development would hurt the ability of Congress to implement bold responses to national issues long after Miers has receded from the headlines.
In a time of unprecedented crises from natural disasters to foreign wars, if the nation sees their political leaders bickering it will cause irrefutable damage to the way they see their political leaders. A loss of faith in political leaders will society less effective in responding to future crises.
With all this in mind, it is absolutely crucial that the nation's political leaders work together to agree on a moderate candidate that will be acceptable to all Americans.If they fail on this score, they will have no one to blame but themselves when the American people turn away in disgust from politics as usual.
Adam Keith is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at akeith@cavalierdaily.com.
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