A Disaster Averted...

Harriet Miers has withdrawn from nomination, so she will not be suffering the hearings that would otherwise have been unprecedented in their destructive effects, as both parties would have been on the attack. The inescapable consequence of that would have been that having comported themselves with all the dignity of a pack of howling Democrats, the Republicans would have lost any possible rationale for moving the process back in the direction it needs to go.

The Constitution calls for the Senate to advise and consent to the president's nominees. Not to inspect and veto, nor to castigate and flagellate. The vote on Ruth Bader Ginsburg may serve as a model of what the Constitution intends. After hearings in which the "Ginsburg rule" was created -- the rule that declares a nominee need not answer on any issue that is, or will foreseeably be, in front of the court -- Ms. Ginsburg was approved by a vote of 96 to 3, with one member not voting. That was clearly an example of consent. And clearly, it was not stained by any partisan division, even though Ms. Ginsburg is the posterchild for liberal lunacy on the bench.

By contrast, the recent approval of John Roberts -- against whom no dirt could be flung, and whose knowledge of the court and its findings may accurately be described as encyclopaedic, a man with traditional values, a calm demeanor, and a very sharp mind -- was achieved by a vote of 78 to 22. It would be difficult to rationalize in such a vote the absence of partisan ill manners.

Traditionally, the hearings have been intended to determine the bona fides of the nominee. To discover whether the nominee has the skill and experience to ably serve in the appointed role. The hearings are not supposed to be held for the purpose of determining whether the nominee will vote according to the pleasure of any particular party line, nor in accord with the views of Senators Kennedy, Biden, Pelosi, nor any of the others whose shenanigans have so illuminated the history of that body.

In short, if the nominee is found to have the skills and experience to be capable of performing as a justice, then the Senate should consent. And in doing so, it would be a mark of grace befitting the institution were it to vote in near unanimous form, signaling acceptance, and burying any ill will that may have flared up in the process.

We may now hope that the new nominee, whoever President Bush selects, will be better handled by both parties in the coming hearings.