My Worldmagblog mention of coffee and doughnuts has already brought gibes from some fellow columnists, but there's much greater evidence of a servant's heart, which might not be bad on a court known for its prima donnas. Rob Mowrey, an attorney who knows Miers well, talks about how in the 1990s, with an aged mom suffering from dementia, "Harriet moved her mother not only into her own house, but into her bedroom, because her mother would wake up in the night and be distraught if she wasn't right there."
That's impressive -- her own room. (And let's hold the jokes about dementia in the Supreme chambers.) What's crucial is that a self-effacing nature bodes well for the upholding of an originalist position wherein justices are servants of the text, rather than masters of it. Columnist Michelle Malkin argues well that "a good heart does not a great Supreme Court justice make." No, but it might make a person remain an originalist.
Heart: In so many ways, this appointment is classic Bush. Nearly six years ago, when asked in an early debate among Republican presidential candidates to name his favorite philosopher, W. famously said, "Christ, because he changed my heart." The pooh-poohing of his answer then (favorite philosopher -- the question was about mind, not heart) anticipated the current debate among conservatives: suffering servant? Why not intellectual leader?
It's George W. Bush's analysis that "heart" is crucial, since a good mind by itself also does not a great justice make. We may end up having been bamboozled by this nominee, in which case the Republican Party will pay a heavy price. But give Bush credit for going beyond the assumption that the person who would be the best constitutional law professor makes the best nominee. He has not only nominated a justice, but implicitly called for a paradigm shift in conservative thinking.