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 News from Around the Americas | October 2005 
Miers Withdraws Under Mounting Criticism
 Terence Hunt - Associated Press
| | Miers withdrew her nomination to be a Supreme Court justice Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005, in the face of stiff opposition and mounting criticism about her qualifications. |
Washington - Under withering attack from conservatives, President Bush ended his push to put loyalist Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court Thursday and promised a quick replacement. Democrats accused him of bowing to the "radical right wing of the Republican Party."
The White House said Miers had withdrawn her name because of a bipartisan effort in Congress to gain access to internal documents related to her role as counsel to the president. But politics played a larger role: Bush's conservative backers had doubts about her ideological purity, and Democrats had little incentive to help the nominee or the embattled GOP president.
The withdrawal stunned Washington on a day when the capital was awaiting potential bad news for the administration on another front the possible indictments of senior White House aides in the CIA leak case. Earlier in the week, the U.S. military death toll in Iraq hit 2,000
President Bush said he reluctantly accepted Miers' decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he did not want her to step down.
"It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House disclosures that would undermine a president's ability to receive candid counsel," Bush said. "Harriet Miers' decision demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the constitutional separation of powers and confirms my deep respect and admiration for her."
There were few regrets on Capitol Hill, from either party.
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., told Fox News that the nomination had been a bad idea. "Let's move on," he said. "In a month, who will remember the name Harriet Miers."
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Miers capable but added, "This clearly was the wrong position for her."
"The radical right wing of the Republican Party killed the Harriet Miers nomination," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who had recommended Miers to the president. |
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