Specter Does Not Think Miers Is Going to Be Withdrawn

See Wall Street Journal October 22, 2005 The Weekend Interview 'I Don't Think She's Going to Be Withdrawn' by MELANIE KIRKPATRICK

“As for the nominee herself, Mr. Specter says he's examined her legal record and is impressed. ‘During the recess, I took home a large compendium of cases that she'd been involved in and I studied them, and I found out they were very complex,’ he says. ‘She had an underground easement case which was very complicated, she represented Disney in a jurisdiction issue in Texas, she represented Microsoft in a patent case. She represented a woman, pro bono, on Social Security [and] a criminal defendant in a habeas corpus case. And I could see as I went through her legal record that she's a good lawyer. She deals with complex, conceptual issues and, I think, demonstrates the capacity to handle a wide variety of issues, including constitutional issues’.”

“The senator also tries to quell mounting speculation that Ms. Miers's nomination will die before it can make it to the hearing-room. He says he's ‘confident’ there will be a hearing. ‘I don't think she's going to be withdrawn’."

" ‘Whether she's going to be confirmed is totally in her hands,’ he says. His fellow Senators don't know much about her now – ‘she doesn't say very much in the meetings’ -- but soon Ms. Miers ‘will have center stage... and the opportunity to prove her mettle’."