That Would Include Me

AP: Some Groups Not Happy With Top Court Nod---

WASHINGTON - Conservatives on Wednesday continued to question President Bush's nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, causing a rare fracture in the GOP's attempts to move the federal judiciary to the right.

"There are a lot more people — men, women and minorities — that are more qualified in my opinion by their experience than she is," said Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), R-Miss., formerly the Senate Majority leader.

Lott said it's not enough for the president to say "trust me," when it comes to the Supreme Court.

"I don't just automatically salute or take a deep bow anytime a nominee is sent up," Lott told MSNBC. "I have to find out who these people are, and right now, I'm not satisfied with what I know."
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Conservatives in some cases are expressing outright opposition, some are in wait-and-see mode and others are silent, all bad signs for a Bush administration used to having the full backing of all wings of the GOP when it takes on the Senate's minority Democrats over judicial selection.

"I'm getting reports on both sides," said Paul Weyrich, a conservative leader from the Free Congress Foundation. "Some people are quite enthused about her and other people are very upset. The grass-roots are not happy, I can tell you that."
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But many Senate conservatives are withholding judgment, and House Republican leaders have said little to nothing about Miers. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record), a Judiciary Committee Republican and a possible GOP 2008 candidate, even invoked a favorite target of conservatives when talking about Miers.

"There's precious little to go on and a deep concern that this would be a Souter-type candidate," Brownback said, referring to Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a little-known judge nominated for the court by the first President Bush who later turned out to be liberal on the bench.

"The circumstances seem to be very similar," said Brownback, who will meet with Miers on Thursday. "Not much track record, people vouching for her, yet indications of a different thought pattern earlier in life."