Who cares what I think about Harriet Miers?

But I'll tell you anyway.

I think this is telling the Democrats, "Go ahead. Make my day." It's an invitation to use the filibuster, and see whether the nuclear option will work. If it works, Miers will be a perfectly good justice, who I suspect is a big fan of John Roberts. If not, she knows what's coming, and presumably is willing to take that chance.

I don't know whether she's the best judicial choice in the country, but I'm not convinced that only people who write a lot of law review articles or judicial opinions can qualify. I have no doubt that she is qualified for the job, and that she knows what's wrong with the court's trajectory in the past 50 years. As Glenn Reynolds points out, you don't have to be world famous to become a great justice. He doesn't like here because she's not a libertarian, but I do. Principles are more important than brilliance, and I tend to agree with hers if he support of John Roberts is any indication. Anti-democratic arrogance and political activism, like William O. Douglas', should be avoided like the plague.

I can't imagine Justice Miers, for example, voting to overrule the Padilla decision. There are times when the threat to civil liberties must be compared to the threat to national security. Courts can make that distinction. That's what they are for, not to decide whether the states can outlaw sodomy.