MSNBC: A Partisan Perfect Storm

In the day since the Miers nomination was withdrawn, many have already begun to speculate on the next nominee and what impact that nomination may have on recent developments in the Senate. In this article, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) is essentially calling on the president to provoke a conflict on that body between the parties. Having looked at the pool of likely nominees, I think that there are several options, such as Michael McConnell, Michael Luttig, and Maureen Mahoney, that would be responsible and in the interest of national unity. By nominating an exreme conservative, as Sen. Brownback would seem to support, the President would only further contradict his old claim of being a "uniter" and imperil the compromise that senators of conscience reached recently. The national debate on abortion, for which Brownback advocates, has already been going on in this nation for years. His preference is to try to end the debate by confirming a nominee whose pro-life stance would serve as a proxy for the actual votes that Brownback hopes to win in a few years. Just as conseratives argue, correctly, that the Supreme Court has a duty to decide what is lawful, so too does the Senate have a duty. Their duty is not to use confirmation hearings as a platform for political benefit, but to confirm nominees whose legal expertise and ability to remain unbiased will ensure the continued stability and effectiveness of the Supreme Court. I would be most agrieved if the vision of Senator Brownback came to pass and personal politics took the place of justice.