Questioning Miers

[Miguel Schor]

Perhaps we should have a merit test for prospective federal judges but I 
doubt whether the Senate Judiciary Committee is up to the job 
institutionally speaking.  I also wonder  whether the emphasis on 
Miers's supposed lack of qualifications masks the real concern that the 
left and the right have with her (albeit for different reasons) which is 
political and ideological.  My guess is that either side would be quite 
content with a hack (assuming she is one) as long as she voted the right 
way.  Certainly the nomination of a potentially mediocre stealth 
candidate, to update Hruska's comments a bit, has roiled the political 
waters in a number of truly fascinating ways.  Miguel

RJLipkin at aol.com wrote:

>         Has any confirmation process ever included (and, if so, to 
> what extent) questioning the nominee on his or her knowledge of 
> constitutional law? I do not mean to try surreptitiously to glean the 
> candidate's positions on critical questions on hot-button issues or 
> even his or her judicial philosophy, but simply to seek to learn about 
> the candidate's working understanding of the development of 
> constitutional doctrine.  I suppose a fairly softball question of the 
> kind I'm envisioning would be this: What was the substantive 
> controversy between FDR and the Hughes Court? Or perhaps a little more 
> challenging: How would you explain the difference between a specific 
> constitutional right to privacy and a general right to privacy? 
> Or finally, what's the constitutional point of the Ninth and Tenth 
> Amendments? I don't think these are improper (insulting) questions, 
> and it strikes me that Ms. Miers must attempt to answer them.
>  
> Bobby
>
> Robert Justin Lipkin
> Professor of Law
> Widener University School of Law
> Delaware
>
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