Miers / White

[JFN]

What very little I know about the Restoration movement, I find 
difficult to square with Miers' five-year tenure as Chair of the 
Texas Lottery Commission. Is that less of a contradiction than it 
seems?

And this is amusing:

Dallasite playing key role in search for next Supreme Court justice
10:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 29, 2005
By JOHN McCAA / WFAA-TV -- Dallas/Forth Worth

*  *  *
After 33 years on the high court - 19 of them as chief justice - the 
very strong rumor was that Rehnquist, battling thyroid cancer, was 
going to step down on the last day of the session.

Among those in that White House strategy session was former Dallas 
City Councilwoman Harriet Miers, whose office is apparently 
coordinating efforts to find and vet a successful nominee for the 
next court vacancy.

*   *   *
Who knows, the president may do the same thing with this nomination 
he did when he picked a running mate in 1999; rather than select one 
of the well-known top contenders, he called on the man who conducted 
the running mate search for him, Dick Cheney, to join him on the 
ticket.

Imagine that: Justice Miers.

It's a stretch, but you never know.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/jmccaa/stories/wfaa050629_am_mccaa.587f7892.html

Heh.

John Noble

At 5:29 PM -0700 10/3/05, Scarberry, Mark wrote:
>To address a small part of Sandy's post:
>
>"Pentecostal" is not a good description of Valley View Christian 
>Church (<http://www.vvcc.org/>http://www.vvcc.org/) in Dallas, of 
>which, as I understand it, Ms. Miers is a member. Instead, her 
>church seems to be a part of the Restoration (or Stone-Campbell) 
>movement, the goal of which, as I understand it, is to restore 
>authentic first century Christian faith and practice as revealed in 
>the Christian scriptures. There are three groups of churches (they 
>would not call themselves "denominations") within that movement: (1) 
>the Churches of Christ (with which my university is affiliated, 
>although I am a member of a Presbyterian Church), (2) the Christian 
>Church (Disciples of Christ), and (3) the Christian 
>Churches/Churches of Christ. It seems that Valley View Christian 
>Church is affiliated with one of those groups, inasmuch as its 
>preaching minister gives broadcast talks on a "Christian Churches 
>and Churches of Christ" program and is the past president of the 
>Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary (now part of the Cincinnati 
>Christian University, I think), which is affiliated with the 
>Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. See 
><http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/the_christians_hour/>http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/the_christians_hour/; 
>The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (Wm. B. Eerdmans 
>Publishing, 2004).
>
>These churches generally do not emphasize the supernaturally 
>manifested gifts of the Holy Spirit -- like "speaking in tongues" -- 
>that are emphasized by Pentecostal churches. They come from a quite 
>different tradition.
>
>On the general question of the relevance of the nominee's religious 
>faith, here is a comment that I made at Ann Althouse's excellent 
>blog (<http://althouse.blogspot.com/>http://althouse.blogspot.com) 
>in response to one of her posts:
>
>"For 25 years Ms. Miers has been a member of a non-hierarchical, 
>theologically conservative Christian church in Dallas. See 
><http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/>http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/. 
>She will understand deeply the concerns that people in such churches 
>have about judges who seek to remake the culture and who remove 
>social issues from the democratic process. Supreme Court nominees 
>should neither be supported nor opposed on the basis of their 
>religion, but her religious background will help her to understand 
>why a majority of Americans (according to a recent poll) are not 
>happy with the judiciary. I think she is likely to bring a 
>refreshingly different perspective to the Court."
>
>Caveat: I have no personal knowledge of Ms. Miers's church 
>affiliation, but am relying on the information from worldmagblog.
>
>Mark S. Scarberry
>Pepperdine University School of Law
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Sanford Levinson [mailto:SLevinson at law.utexas.edu]
>Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 3:51 PM
>To: CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu
>Subject: RE: Miers / White
>
>
>[snip]
>
>Does anyone doubt, incidentally, that Bush regards it as a very strong
>plus, as he looks into her "heart," that she is apparently a very strong
>churchgoer (a Catholic convert to Pentacostal Protestantism,
>apparently)?  Apropos the discussion about who has the last word, is it
>not clear that this particular president is applying a religious test
>for office that would be patently unconstitutional if it were
>formalized?  So has George Bush in effect rendered irrelevant Article VI
>and the No Test Oath Clause?  (Can anyone imagine Bush appointing anyone
>who has no religious affiliation?)  When John Paul Stevens dies, will
>anyone suggest that agnostics and athiests are entitled to a
>replacement?
>
>[snip]
>
>sandy
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