Yeah, Bush's ability to gauge competence is not impressing me lately (which is to say, even less than it did before. Impressive. Prior to Katrina I wouldn't have thought that was possible), so I'm not awarding Miers any points on that count.
Re: the lawyer-judge career switch, here's my opinion: Lawyer to trial judge is fine. Legal scholar to appellate judge is fine. Lawyer to appellate judge... eeh. I mean, at the least I would want some indication that this is the kind of person who's given some thought to big-picture issues, policy balancing, and philosophy of jurisprudence. Miers does not fit that description, at least not based on what little information is out on her so far.
Yeah, Bush's ability to gauge competence is not impressing me lately (which is to say, even less than it did before. Impressive. Prior to Katrina I wouldn't have thought that was possible), so I'm not awarding Miers any points on that count.
Re: the lawyer-judge career switch, here's my opinion: Lawyer to trial judge is fine. Legal scholar to appellate judge is fine. Lawyer to appellate judge... eeh. I mean, at the least I would want some indication that this is the kind of person who's given some thought to big-picture issues, policy balancing, and philosophy of jurisprudence. Miers does not fit that description, at least not based on what little information is out on her so far.
So we'll see.