Brendan Nyhan

The New Republic on Harriet Miers’ qualifications

George W. Bush on Harriet Miers:

Asked point-blank whether she was the most qualified person in the country to serve on the high court, Bush said, “Yes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have put her on.”

The New Republic on Harriet Miers:

Let’s take as the standard, then, arguably the least qualified justice currently on the Court: Clarence Thomas. Thomas went to Yale Law School, served as the assistant attorney general of Missouri, held a variety of civil rights posts in the Reagan administration, and spent a year on the D.C. federal appeals court before he was nominated for the Supreme Court. Miers, on the other hand, has a law degree from Southern Methodist University, went on to head the Texas bar association, and held the high office of chairman of the state lottery commission. Does Clarence Thomas know anything about bingo? We think not.