Doug Kmiec taught me Constitutional and Real Property Law while at Notre Dame. He attended the Mass when I entered the Catholic Church (inadvertently; he was there anyway, but he went out of his way to congratulate me afterwards). We've met once since graduation and have corresponded occasionally by e-mail. While I can't call him a friend, that's because we don't live near enough to develop the requisite familiarity. I think highly of the man.
And he thinks highly of Miers. Although Kmiec's piece doesn't address concerns that Bush has appointed another Souter (who hides behind questionable precedent to further the Court-fueled cultural revolution of the past forty years), I'm feeling a little better. WaPo link. Excerpt:
Miers is exactly like Roberts in one crucial aspect: They are both steadfast adherents to a judicial ethic of no personally imposed points of view. The cognoscenti snicker when the president reaffirms his criterion of judges who will shun legislating from the bench, since to legal realists, it is inconceivable and to political ideologues it is a missed opportunity. They all do, they all will, goes the refrain. To which Roberts repeatedly answered: No, not this umpire. The same answer can be expected from Miers as she makes her bid to join the officiating crew. . .
Senators of both parties encouraged the president to look outside the so-called judicial monastery. If they were serious -- and they should have been -- Miers has precisely the right background. A former at-large member of the Dallas City Council, she has a sense of accountability at the grass-roots level. Her more than two decades of advising clients and meeting their expectations will help her assess the practical import of some of the court's abstract and too often sharply divided handiwork. And on the last point -- reaching consensus -- Miers has had a pivotal role in the White House for the past four years doing just that. As staff secretary, deputy chief of staff and now counsel to the president, Miers has a reputation, as described by her former boss Andy Card, as an "honest broker."
