On the day Harriet Miers’ Supreme Court nomination was announced, two surrogates — Nathan Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court and Ed Kinkeade, a Dallas-based federal district court judge — assured James Dobson and a dozen other leading conservative leaders that Miers would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Questions remained, however, about whether the right could be sure. How would Hecht and Kinkeade know? Where’s the paper trail? It just popped up.
Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers pledged support in 1989 for a constitutional amendment banning abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother, according to material given to the Senate on Tuesday.
As a candidate for the Dallas city council, Miers also signaled support for the overall agenda of Texans United for Life — agreeing she would support legislation restricting abortions if the Supreme Court ruled that states could ban abortions and would participate in “pro-life rallies and special events.”
Miers made her views known in a candidate questionnaire the White House submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is expected to hold hearings on her Supreme Court nomination next month. The one-page questionnaire was filled out, but unsigned, although the Bush administration affirmed its authenticity.
If the right was looking for some kind of proof that Miers was with them, this might help.
Just as an aside, I’m curious about one tangent. This report quickly leaked from the Hill to the AP this morning. Which side, do you suppose, wanted to get this information out more? Dems, who increasingly want to defeat Miers’ nomination, or Republicans, who might want to prove to the GOP’s right-wing base that she isn’t as bad as they’ve heard?