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Yet Another Rove Fuck Up
Specter to Ask Whether Rove Gave Private Assurances on Miers
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said he wants to know whether presidential adviser Karl Rove privately assured a conservative activist of how Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers would rule on the court.
Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said he will would look into a statement by James Dobson, president of the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based advocacy group Focus on the Family, that Dobson has had ``conversations'' with Rove about the woman nominated to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and knows things about Miers ``that I probably shouldn't know.''
``The Senate Judiciary Committee is entitled to know whatever the White House knew,'' Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said on ABC's ``This Week'' program. ``If Dr. Dobson knows something that he shouldn't know or something that I ought to know, I'm going to find out.''
The senator stopped short of saying he would subpoena Dobson or Rove to appear. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and member of the Judiciary panel, said today that Dobson should be called as a witness during hearings on Miers's nomination that are set to begin next month.
President George W. Bush's judicial nomination has exposed fissures in his base of support and forced him to spend time shoring up support within his own party. Republican senators such as George Allen of Virginia and Sam Brownback of Kansas have questioned Miers's qualifications and background, and conservative activists are divided in their support.
Defense
Bush used his weekly radio address yesterday to defend his choice of Miers, his White House counsel and longtime legal adviser, to serve on the Supreme Court. ``She knows that judges should have a restrained and modest role in our constitutional democracy,'' he said.
Senator Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Miers had told him she'd made no promises as to how she'd vote on any issue that might come before the court, including Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that held women have the right to seek abortions.
Any such guarantee from a nominee should be enough to scuttle the nomination, said Leahy, a Vermont Democrat.
``If assurances were given of how any nominee, whether this nominee or anybody else, and somebody gives assurances how they're going to vote in an upcoming case, I would vote against that person,'' Leahy told ABC.
Dobson's organization is a Christian activist group that opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage and advocates for what it calls traditional values. Dobson endorsed Bush's choice of Miers in his syndicated radio show on Oct. 5.
Schumer said the administration should say publicly what it has been telling supporters in private.
``Karl Rove ought to let the public know what kind of assurances he gave James Dobson,'' he said on CBS's ``Face the Nation'' program.
Calls to Dobson's spokesman weren't immediately returned.
Leahy and Specter said Miers should be given the benefit of the doubt until she appears before their committee.
``I think she may well turn out to be the best-qualified person he could find once we give her a chance to be heard,'' Specter said.
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said he wants to know whether presidential adviser Karl Rove privately assured a conservative activist of how Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers would rule on the court.
Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said he will would look into a statement by James Dobson, president of the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based advocacy group Focus on the Family, that Dobson has had ``conversations'' with Rove about the woman nominated to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and knows things about Miers ``that I probably shouldn't know.''
``The Senate Judiciary Committee is entitled to know whatever the White House knew,'' Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said on ABC's ``This Week'' program. ``If Dr. Dobson knows something that he shouldn't know or something that I ought to know, I'm going to find out.''
The senator stopped short of saying he would subpoena Dobson or Rove to appear. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and member of the Judiciary panel, said today that Dobson should be called as a witness during hearings on Miers's nomination that are set to begin next month.
President George W. Bush's judicial nomination has exposed fissures in his base of support and forced him to spend time shoring up support within his own party. Republican senators such as George Allen of Virginia and Sam Brownback of Kansas have questioned Miers's qualifications and background, and conservative activists are divided in their support.
Defense
Bush used his weekly radio address yesterday to defend his choice of Miers, his White House counsel and longtime legal adviser, to serve on the Supreme Court. ``She knows that judges should have a restrained and modest role in our constitutional democracy,'' he said.
Senator Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Miers had told him she'd made no promises as to how she'd vote on any issue that might come before the court, including Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that held women have the right to seek abortions.
Any such guarantee from a nominee should be enough to scuttle the nomination, said Leahy, a Vermont Democrat.
``If assurances were given of how any nominee, whether this nominee or anybody else, and somebody gives assurances how they're going to vote in an upcoming case, I would vote against that person,'' Leahy told ABC.
Dobson's organization is a Christian activist group that opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage and advocates for what it calls traditional values. Dobson endorsed Bush's choice of Miers in his syndicated radio show on Oct. 5.
Schumer said the administration should say publicly what it has been telling supporters in private.
``Karl Rove ought to let the public know what kind of assurances he gave James Dobson,'' he said on CBS's ``Face the Nation'' program.
Calls to Dobson's spokesman weren't immediately returned.
Leahy and Specter said Miers should be given the benefit of the doubt until she appears before their committee.
``I think she may well turn out to be the best-qualified person he could find once we give her a chance to be heard,'' Specter said.
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