There is something to be said for having a Court that is not all white men. But Miers has a whiff of an affirmative-action selection about her that is unnecessary. When Sandra Day O’Connor was tapped in 1981, she was one of the few qualified women in the country. Now, there are dozens and dozens of women on appellate courts, on state supreme courts, and on law-school faculties whose qualifications would be beyond question. There is no reason to go to a nominee who might have been on the pioneering edge 15 years ago, when she was first woman head of the Texas state bar, but has since been surpassed by women who have reaped the benefits of decades of greater opportunity.
Democrats have an interesting choice. They can accept Miers on the theory that as an unknown quantity she is the best they can hope for from Bush, given that his short list included well-established, intellectually hefty conservatives. Or they can try to deal Bush a blow by attacking her as a crony. If they choose the first course and Miers votes as a down-the-line conservative on the Court, Bush’s pick will, over time, be seen as politically canny. Now it looks like the latest act of an overly insular, increasingly off-key White House.