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President
Bush Nominates Second Supreme Court Justice |
Posted:
10.03.05
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President Bush has nominated White House lawyer Harriet Miers
to take the place of retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor.
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The announcement came on Oct. 3, 2005, the start of the Supreme
Court term in which another of the president's selections, John
Roberts, took the helm as the court's newly confirmed chief justice.
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Who is Harriet
Miers? |
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Harriet Miers, age 60, is a long-time Texas friend of President
Bush.
 She
came with him to the White House in 2001 as staff secretary, the
person who screens the documents that reach his desk, according
to the Washington Post.
The president, who calls her career "trailblazing,"
named her the official White House lawyer in November 2004.
Born and raised in Dallas, Miers, graduated from Southern Methodist
University with a major in mathematics. She also went to law school
at SMU.
Miers was the first woman hired by Dallas law firm Locke Purnell
Boren Laney & Neely. There, she represented big clients such
as Microsoft and Walt Disney Co.
She was also the first female president of the Texas Bar Association,
the organization of state lawyers. She is not married and has
no children.
She also has no judicial record, which means senators will pursue
more detailed answers about her legal opinions at her confirmation
hearings.
If confirmed, Miers would join Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the two
women on the Supreme Court and only the third to ever serve on
the high court.
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The year
ahead for the Supreme Court |
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In the coming months, the Supreme Court will hear several controversial
cases on topics including abortion, assisted suicide, the death
penalty and military recruiting in colleges.
As the highest court in the country, the Supreme Court receives
thousands of potential cases each year, but only decides to review
a select few.
 These
cases are chosen because they challenge federal authority or the
Constitution.
Cases come before the court because one of the sides files a
"writ of certiorari," or an appeal, of a decision made
by either the U.S. Court of Appeals or a state supreme court.
The U.S. Supreme Court has chosen to review 48 cases this term.
This will fill the court's docket, or schedule, until February.
The controversial issues raised by these cases will likely help
define the future direction of the new Roberts Court.
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Upcoming
cases |
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The first test for the court will come this week with Gonzales
v. Oregon, a case that questions the legality of doctor-assisted
suicide. Oregon voters have twice supported the Death with Dignity
Act that allows physicians to provide lethal doses of prescription
drugs to patients with fatal diseases.
The attorney general of the United States declared that this
was illegal because of the Federal Controlled Substances Act.
 In
November, the court will hear arguments over a New Hampshire law
that requires parental notification for girls under the age of
18 to receive an abortion. The lower appeals court nullified the
law because it lacked an exception for "emergencies."
Another case on the docket deals simultaneously with free speech
and gay rights. Some law schools are arguing that the Department
of Defense's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bans
gays from military service, is discriminatory.
The 1996 Solomon Amendment stated that the federal government
can withhold federal funding from colleges and universities which
ban military recruiters from campus. The schools believe that
by forcing them to provide space for military recruitment, the
federal government is violating their First Amendment rights to
oppose the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
One case chosen for review has many legal scholars scratching
their heads in confusion. The Supreme Court will finally resolve
the inheritance dispute over a $1.6 billion estate between former
Playboy model and 37-year-old actress Anna Nicole Smith and her
deceased husband's family.
--Compiled
from wire reports and other media sources
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