OK! I have been withholding judgement on Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers and probably should continue to do so. Frankly, I think a lot of other bloggers should keep their opinions to themselves, too, because most of us don’t know enough about Harriet Miers or the Supreme Court to have an informed opinion. Nevertheless, this is the United States of America, the land where because we can speak freely, therefore we must inform everyone of what we think about any and everything. And following in that grand tradition, the blogosphere is place for opinions every kind. I feel the pressure! Everyone wants to knoiw what I think. Everyone else knows whether or not Ms. Miers should be confirmed. I KNOW, TOO!

Whew! I feel better now. Now I can step back two paces and ask a few questions. Does anyone have a cogent reason for thinking that Harriet Miers is intellectually inferior to the average Supreme Court justice? Maybe still waters run deep. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a dozen times: she’s not qualified. The implication is that Harriet Miers is not fit to judge a beauty contest, much less be a judge in the highest court of this great nation. I want to know what’s so hard about deciding whether or not the Constitution applies to this or that case and how it applies. If she’s been a lawyer for thirty years and if she’s been the head of a large law firm and if she’s lawyered for the President of the United States, why can’t she, along with eight other justices, decide the cases that come before the Supreme Court? I also want to know why is she not qualified? What exactly would “qualified” look like? Don’t throw names at me; I’m sure there are lots of other people who are qualified. I want to know what makes them qualified. They’ve written great law review articles? They’ve written opinions with which you agree? I agree that kind of paper trail would make it easier to trace the ideas and abilities of a prospective judge, but the lack of articles and written opinions doesn’t prove that Harriet Miers doesn’t have any ideas or has the wrong ones. Maybe she’s a smart, conservative lady who keeps her nose to the grindstone and gets the job done and doesn’t write a lot of self-aggrandizing drivel.

That said, isn’t this (via Francis Beckwith who got it from a David Brooks column) kind of sad? Maybe when she does write, it is drivel. Even scarier, maybe this is how she thinks. I just hope that when I’m nominated to the Supreme Court, the opposition won’t pull quotes from my blog to show what a poor writer and thinker (and typist) I am. It’s almost enough to make one quit blogging. But then I wouldn’t have any paper trail. Can’t win.

But I still know without a doubt whether or not Harriet Miers should be confirmed. I’m just not telling.