Whom do I trust?

I imagine that my first reaction to the President's nomination of Harriet Miers to succeed Justice O'Connor mirrored many other conservatives. I wondered whether someone with no judicial experience was the best choice, and I worried that the need for a strict constructionist to fill the spot would be left unfulfilled. As with many things political, I was looking forward to listing to Hugh Hewitt on my drive home. When it comes to a nomination to SCOTUS, and anything involving legal discussions, I trust Hugh Hewitt. I've been listing to him off and on for 18 years, he's a lawyer, he's been in the White House, he teaches constitutional law, and I trust his instincts on many matters political. His take on the nomination of Harriet Miers makes sense. No, she was not the person he (Hugh) hoped that the President would nominate. But he made some very good points on the show yesterday, and on his blog post. President Bush has beaten the Dems like bongo drums for five plus years, and yet some conservatives are spooked by the fact that Harry Reid and Charles Schumer haven't taken to the Senate floor to announce a attempt at a filibuster. Shouldn't the presumption be --given the record of the past few election cycles-- that the president knows what he is doing? The hearings will be very, very interesting, and Democrats have put themselves in a very small box. It will be unfortunate if conservative loyalists help them out of it by legitimizing attacks on a dedicated and very qualified public servant. So, the fact that so many (on Both sides) were primed to do battle over this one may make the selection feel like a mis-step, but we need to pick our battles well. This seems to be a good example of doing just that. Another key item that I overheard in conversation was that we need to keep the key Appellate level jurists where there can continue to be effective, rather than yanking them from their benches to move to a position where they will have less opportunity to hear and decide upon cases. Only a tiny fraction of the cases appealed make it to the Supremes, the Appellate level is Very, Very important to our system! I'm with Hugh on this one - give the President credit for knowing how to outfox his opponents. UPDATE Cassandra at Villainous Company links to a most excellent essay from NRO on the topic, from the Honorable Ronald Cass.