PressEthic

Every morning this week, as I log onto The NY Times online page it has been interesting to note the coverage of Bush’s next Supreme Court Nominee, Harriet Miers. I realize that the position of a Supreme Court Justice is a very crucial post to fill, and cannot be dealt with lightly. The people who are on this court need to trusted, perfect, ideal citizens. Not a scratch can be on their record or the press will run screaming with it. Well, from all coverage that I have seen concerning dear Harriet, it seems as if they’ve got nothing on her. It’s interesting to also note how the papers are covering her, versus a few weeks ago, when they covered John Roberts. Mier’s is much different than Robert’s from the get-go. She’s single, no children, has never been a judge, and wears way too much eyeliner. She is known for being exceptionally quiet-meaning she can hold her own, but is more apt to listen than talk. What we also know so far is that she is really really into her religion. She converted to uber-Christianity from Catholicism around the mid 80’s, when she also made the Democratic-Republican party switch. She is a loyal and legal servant to George W. and lucky or unlucky for her, depending how you see it, she has no real record of any of her feelings about abortion, because she has never been a judge.

The New York Times specifically has focused on her religion and lack of inexperience, as somewhat downsides to her background, but nonetheless seem to be giving her the go-ahead. They made sure to include quotes that give her all these great labels. One Harriet admirer in this article called her “a tigress when it comes to the law”. The article released today had another person calling her “tough as nails.” They have included stories and even photos from her high school years, claiming she was “efficient, sweet and sincere, and she was most likely good at sports.” Uhhh, what does that have anything to do with anything? Does someone’s interest in volleyball or field hockey make them more fit to wear the black robe? The article said she was a Sunday school teacher, and made sure to include the a quote from a mother of two former pupils, who said she was quiet, and never used the church to advance her political side, but always, always had doughnuts and coffee ready for the children. Oh good. That must mean she will bring Dunkin Donuts to the justices before one of their really long days in court. The same article even tried to rouse up a supposed romantic link to a Justice Hecht, who had been commenting a lot recently on the do-goodness of the new nominee.

Today's article focused on all the uneasiness about her nomination. Conservatives are pissed because they really thought Bush was going to go all out and pick a conservative nominee who will beat down abortion and not waiver in the wind. Evangelical Christians are excited about their views finally being brought to the bench, and others just feel that so many others- men, women, and minorities were much more qualified. Unlike Roberts, no one has been able to dig up anything about her opinion on Roe vs. Wade, though maybe somebody in her high school class heard her mutter about abortions one time in biology, and they can use that testimony. Probably not, but it seems like we are almost at that length of ridiculousness when it comes to digging into these nominees backgrounds. While the press has certainly put Miers on trial in their own right, we will just have to wait and see what really comes out when she can properly be questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Then we, as a country can see what this tigress is really all about.