Judicial Transparency

What I think should be most appalling to anyone on either side of the political divide is the degree to which the Bush administration is employing smoke and mirrors to keep everyone disoriented in order to get its nominee, Harriet Miers, onto the court.

We don't know anything about her and everything we hear, from both the left and the right, is met with vigorous denial. First she was for abortion, then against it. In fact, we know so little about her philosophy - past that Bush knows her heart, which isn't a good sign for sage judicial philosophy - that abortion is the only contentious issue on which we can try and lambaste her. At least Roberts, master of evasion, had his hapless toad; Miers only has a bad hairdo.

So when I see something like this:

Harriet E. Miers, the Supreme Court nominee, disclosed on Tuesday a 1989 survey in which she supported banning abortion except to protect the life of the pregnant woman. The disclosure alarmed abortion rights supporters but failed to assuage the concerns of some conservative Republicans.

I'm not surprised, because a stalwart, anti-privacy candidate wouldn't sit well with most people, and I really don't know what to think besides that Harriet Miers is not qualified for the job. Not because she once supported banning a woman's right to maintain her privacy - although a constitutional amendment goes a lot farther than just overturning Roe - but because I don't believe she has the legal grounding to sit on the highest court in the land.

That we are met with continued resistance to any inquiry into this woman's thinking and views is enough of a reason reject her nomination. The probable reason, because most likely she doesn't have any views outside of "Bushie is so cool!!! OMG!!!!," is enough to can her as well. The bottom line, which, funnily enough, is appearing at the bottom of this post, is that the only reasonable position is to be for more transparency in the government, not less. Unless some GOPers somewhere are trying to make the argument that more transparency on Miers is jeopardizing the country's safety. I can hear the chants now.

9/11! 9/11!