supreme court

Conservatives Nervous about Miers’ Loyalties

By John Jessup
Washington Correpsondent

CBN.com – WASHINGTON - President Bush usually enjoys the full backing of the GOP, but in the case of his new Supreme Court nominee, it does not seem to be the case.

To bolster the image of Harriet Miers among conservatives, more information about her faith and personal views is becoming public.

Amidst questions from conservatives, Bush went to bat for his Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers. “People are going to be amazed,” Bush stated, “at her strength of character and her intellect.”

But his reassurances did not quiet the voices of discontent. So now, Miers' friends and supporters have joined the chorus of praise, taking a stand for the woman they say they know very well.

Nathan Hecht, a long-time friend, said Miers "is a very bright lawyer. She is very thoughtful."

And he commented that Miers' decision to become a Christian in her mid-30s was a turning point, both spiritually and politically.

"One evening she called me to her office,” Hecht recalled, “and said she was ready to make a commitment to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior and be born again.”

He walked down the hallway from his office to hers, and there amid the legal briefs and court papers, Miers and Hecht "prayed and talked," he said.

And according to The New York Times, after that she started identifying more with Republicans than with Democrats.

But many conservatives are concerned that she is not on record as pro-life. Hecht says she is pro-life, recalling a conversation in which Miers avowed her pro-life stance after a special service at her church in Dallas.

Miers told him, "I'm convinced that life begins at conception."

But before her conversion and in her younger years, Miers reportedly supported abortion.

Another source of contention among conservatives is her stance on homosexual rights. In 1989, when she ran for the Dallas city council, she filled out a survey saying she backed equal rights for gays, but she did not support the repeal of Texas' law making sodomy a crime.

Those who know her say she was trying to "represent those people, and she wanted to represent the whole city. It doesn't mean that you approve of their lifestyle."

Now it is Miers who is looking to gain the support of the President's base as her nomination on the high court moves on to the Senate.

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