Counselor Harriet Miers

Below the thunders of the upper deep; Far far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee About his shadowy sides; above him swell Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; And far away into the sickly light, From many a wondrous grot and secret cell - from The Kraken, by Alfred, Lord TennysonOK, I got the idea for the title from Jon Stewart's take on the Right's reaction to the nomination of Elena Kagan for the Supreme...Read Full Story

A federal judge has ruled that top White House officials are not immune from congressional subpoenas and can be compelled to testify before Congress.The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten last year to testify about the role the White House played in the decision to fire nine U.S. attorneys in late 2006. Additionally, the committee sought documents from Bolten and Miers related to the attorney purge. Bolten...Read Full Story

MS. MIERS: I have no recollection of that conversation.MR. ROVE: Could you repeat the question, Congressman?MS. MIERS: I don't remember.MR. ROVE: Are you referring to the first President Bush or the second?MS. MIERS: Sounds familiar but I can't say one way or the other.MR. ROVE: At this point I would like to invoke my Fifth Amendment rights. MS. MIERS: I don't remember.MR. ROVE: I hope you can back that up with some, you know, hard evidence.MS. MIERS: You're acting as if I did something wrong...Read Full Story

#7 in the countdown of things we'll remember about George Bush...the Federal Court System.This may be the longest lasting legacy of the Bush Presidency. He has appointed a slew of conservative justices all throughout the Judicial branch. He was also able to appoint two Justices to the Supreme Court. While Justices of the Supreme Court do, sometimes, change their point of view over time, Justices Alito and Chief Justice Roberts seem to be two pretty strong conservatives and they're young so...Read Full Story

articleA U.S. District Court Judge has ruled that Harriet Miers, a former White House Counsel for the Bush Administration must testify before Congress. Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich), praised the decision and pledged to schedule a hearing for Miers shortly. "I am heartened that Judge Bates recognized that the public interest in this matter is best served by the furtherance of the Committee's investigation," he said in a statement.Read Full Story

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Plaintiff, v. HARRIET MIERS, et al., Defendants. Civil Action No. 08-0409 (JDB).This dispute pits the political branches of the federal government against one another in a case all agree presents issues of extraordinary constitutional significance. The heart of the controversy is whether senior presidential aides are absolutely immune from compelled congressional process. But as is often true of lawsuits that raise important...Read Full Story

2003: President Bush says today,“the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice.” Conservatives Object to Bush Friend Harriet Miers’ Nomination to the Supreme Court — So Harriet’s History 2005: White House counsel Harriet Miers withdraws her name from consideration for the Supreme Court today. President Bush had picked his longtime associate to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The...Read Full Story

John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, as his running mate on Friday is one of the most transparent, reactionary moves I've seen in political gamesmanship is quite some time. The selection was clearly made for one reason: to take as many of Hillary Clinton's disgruntled primary voters as possible. There's no other plausible explanation for choosing a woman from a sparsely-populated, little-traveled state with no foreign policy positions, let alone experience, who no one has...Read Full Story

The latest NY Times/CBS poll was released, and the results are simply horrible for the Bush Administration. Total support dropped below 30%, (with 61% opposed) and the right track-wrong track numbers are 23% to 68%. BushCo's foreign policy support stands at 25% (to be discussed in the next post - coming soon).The numbers on Iraq are equally dismal, support = 23%, opposed = 71%. I won't even get rolling on Iraq right now, there are other points I want to move on to cover today - like health...Read Full Story

It's about time! Laurie Kellman / Associated Press - House Democrats pass contempt citations Quote: WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee voted contempt of Congress citations Wednesday against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and President Bush's former legal counselor, Harriet Miers. The 22-17 party-line vote — which would sanction the pair for failure to comply with subpoenas on the firings of several federal prosecutors — advanced the citation to the full House. A senior...Read Full Story