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I recall George W Bush tried to appoint a woman who had gone to community college to the supreme court and she didn't get appointed. Right, it was Harriet Miers

by wincy 6y ago

I recall George W Bush tried to appoint a woman who had gone to community college to the supreme court and she didn't get appointed. Right, it was Harriet Miers. So instead Samuel Alito was appointed.

vonmoltke 6y ago
> George W Bush tried to appoint a woman who had gone to community college to the supreme court She went to Southern Methodist University, not an Ivy but also far from a community college. Also, in the South SMU Law holds as much weight as Ivy Law as far as credentials go.
mcguire 6y ago
Southern Methodist University (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Methodist_University https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Methodist_University) is not now, and never has been, a community college. As for the "not being appointed", "Miers met with the Senate Judiciary Committee after her nomination and in those meetings she was ill-prepared and uninformed on the law.[25] Senator Tom Coburn told her privately that she "flunked" and "[was] going to have to say something next time."[25] Miers had difficulty expressing her views and explaining basic constitutional law concepts.[26] Miers had no experience in constitutional law and did not have extensive litigation experience; at her Texas law firm, she had been more of a manager.[27] In addition, Miers had rarely handled appeals and did not understand the complicated constitutional questions senators asked of her.[27] To White House lawyers, Miers was "less an attorney than a law firm manager and bar association president."[28] "In an unprecedented move, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter and ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy also requested that Miers re-do some of her answers to the questionnaire submitted to her by the Committee, noting that her responses were "inadequate", "insufficient", and "insulting" because she failed or refused to adequately answer various questions with acceptable accuracy or with sufficient detail.[29] Miers also was claimed to have privately expressed a belief in the right to privacy to the pro-choice Arlen Specter, only to later deny that she had communicated that position.[30] Her answers also included an error on constitutional law where she mentioned an explicit constitutional right for proportional representation; though many court rulings have found that legislative and other districts of unequal population violate the equal protection clause, the right to proportional districts is not explicitly mentioned in the United States Constitution.[31]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Miers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Miers
ponker 6y ago
Harriet Miers didn't go to an Ivy League school, but she also never served as any type of judge, and had no other background in constitutional law like litigation or academia. Now, in previous generations people with no direct judicial experience were appointed to the Supreme Court and served well, like Earl Warren, but this has not been customary for quite some time, and Miers did not have massive outside accomplishments like Warren (3-time Governor of California). Miers was just tremendously unqualified for the job and was nominated because she was really close buddies with GW Bush and GWB lived his whole life based on personal loyalties and relationships.

by wincy 6y ago

vonmoltke 6y ago

> George W Bush tried to appoint a woman who had gone to community college to the supreme court She went to Southern Methodist University, not an Ivy but also far from a community college. Also, in the South SMU Law holds as much weight as Ivy Law as far as credentials go.

mcguire 6y ago

Southern Methodist University (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Methodist_University https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Methodist_University) is not now, and never has been, a community college. As for the "not being appointed", "Miers met with the Senate Judiciary Committee after her nomination and in those meetings she was ill-prepared and uninformed on the law.[25] Senator Tom Coburn told her privately that she "flunked" and "[was] going to have to say something next time."[25] Miers had difficulty expressing her views and explaining basic constitutional law concepts.[26] Miers had no experience in constitutional law and did not have extensive litigation experience; at her Texas law firm, she had been more of a manager.[27] In addition, Miers had rarely handled appeals and did not understand the complicated constitutional questions senators asked of her.[27] To White House lawyers, Miers was "less an attorney than a law firm manager and bar association president."[28] "In an unprecedented move, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter and ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy also requested that Miers re-do some of her answers to the questionnaire submitted to her by the Committee, noting that her responses were "inadequate", "insufficient", and "insulting" because she failed or refused to adequately answer various questions with acceptable accuracy or with sufficient detail.[29] Miers also was claimed to have privately expressed a belief in the right to privacy to the pro-choice Arlen Specter, only to later deny that she had communicated that position.[30] Her answers also included an error on constitutional law where she mentioned an explicit constitutional right for proportional representation; though many court rulings have found that legislative and other districts of unequal population violate the equal protection clause, the right to proportional districts is not explicitly mentioned in the United States Constitution.[31]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Miers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Miers

ponker 6y ago

Harriet Miers didn't go to an Ivy League school, but she also never served as any type of judge, and had no other background in constitutional law like litigation or academia. Now, in previous generations people with no direct judicial experience were appointed to the Supreme Court and served well, like Earl Warren, but this has not been customary for quite some time, and Miers did not have massive outside accomplishments like Warren (3-time Governor of California). Miers was just tremendously unqualified for the job and was nominated because she was really close buddies with GW Bush and GWB lived his whole life based on personal loyalties and relationships.