| Santorum criticizes Bush on court pick
While still undecided on Harriet Miers, he said Americans "deserve better" than the President's "trust me" stand.
By Thomas Fitzgerald and Carrie Budoff
Inquirer Staff Writers
Americans "deserve better" than President's Bush "trust me" approach to the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers, Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) said yesterday, making his sharpest critique yet amid a right-wing revolt over the pick.
Santorum added, however, that he had not decided to oppose Miers and hoped to learn more about her views during confirmation hearings.
"There is a lot of heat. I think there is a lot of disappointment that the President didn't put someone up there with a record we could examine," Santorum said on The Michael Smerconish Show on WPHT-AM (1210).
"It is what I term the President's second faith-based initiative, which is 'trust me,' " Santorum said. "I think, candidly, we deserve better than that."
Until yesterday's remarks and brief comments during a visit Thursday to Chambersburg, Santorum had mostly confined himself to saying he did not know much about Miers. His reticence was a marked contrast to the criticism from other conservatives, such as Sens. Sam Brownback (R., Kan.) - who called for vigorous questioning and said he might vote against her - and Trent Lott (R., Miss.).
Santorum's views could be important because of his influence among Republican conservatives and because, as the party's No. 3 leader in the Senate, he has been closely tied to Bush's agenda. Santorum faces a tough reelection fight next year against Democratic State Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. - who says he will wait until after the confirmation hearings to announce his position on Miers.
National conservative leaders across the country have excoriated Bush for picking Miers because she has no record on constitutional issues, either as a judge or an academic, that might reassure them that she would hew to a philosophy of judicial restraint on the high court. Others have said they wanted to see indications that Miers was opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage.
Miers, a Dallas corporate lawyer who was the President's personal attorney, is the White House counsel.
In the summer, Santorum was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic backers of Bush's nomination of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., convening a media conference call within hours of the announcement.
"When they nominated John Roberts, I was: 'Sounds great,' " Santorum said yesterday, in an interview after an antipoverty forum at the Sunday Breakfast Mission in North Philadelphia. "I think we deserve to know more, we deserve to have someone... who has a record - not a better record, just someone who has a record."
Santorum said he was not hearing a great deal from his political base about the pick, but, "I am not hearing a lot of enthusiasm. If I am hearing anything, it is negative."
Conservative leaders in Pennsylvania said reaction to Miers among the rank-and-file had ranged from puzzlement and disappointment to hope.
"It's difficult to be enthusiastic when her resume and philosophy are undefined," said Jeff Coleman, a former state representative from Indiana County now with a conservative think tank in Harrisburg.
"The President has earned respect with his choices on judges, but it's 'trust but verify' on this one," Coleman said. "We'll all be leaning into the television to hear her answers on the first day of the confirmation hearings."
Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, said most conservatives were taking a wait-and-see approach. "It's disappointing the nominee is not someone who's clear-cut," Geer said, but even if she were, there is no guarantee.
"It's hard to predict, even with a track record," he said, noting that several Supreme Court nominees have confounded the presidents who selected them.
In recent days, the White House has stressed Miers' born-again Christian faith in an effort to shore up conservative support. She is a member of the Valley View Christian Church in Dallas, a congregation based on a strict reading of the Bible.
That White House approach has worked for William Devlin, an evangelical who heads the Urban Family Council in Philadelphia.
"Here is a woman who's been very public about her conversion to Christianity," Devlin said. "Why can't conservatives trust her?" He said conservative critics sounded like pessimistic "lemon-suckers."
For his part, Santorum said he would base his decision on what he heard from Miers in the coming days.
"I am going to give Harriet Miers her day in court, if you will, before the committee," Santorum said on the radio program, "and have an opportunity to talk with her and give her every opportunity to let her show us what kind of judicial philosophy she has - and whether she is in fact the kind of person we want on the court."
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Contact staff writer Thomas Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com. |
