Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination

On October 3, 2005, Harriet Miers was nominated for Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President George W. Bush to replace retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Miers was, at the time, White House Counsel, and had previously served in several roles both during Bush's tenure as Governor of Texas and President.

The nomination almost immediately drew criticism, virtually all of it from within the President's own party: David Frum castigated an "unforced error", and Robert Bork denounced it a "disaster" and "a slap in the face to the conservatives who’ve been building up a conservative legal movement for the last 20 years." Hearings before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee had been scheduled to begin on November 7, and members of the Republican leadership had stated before the nomination that they aimed to have the nominee confirmed before Thanksgiving (November 24). Miers withdrew her nomination on October 27, 2005, and Bush nominated Samuel Alito four days later.

On July 1, 2005, Sandra Day O'Connor announced her plan to retire as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, effective as of the date that her replacement was confirmed by the United States Senate. Bush appointed Miers as head of the search committee for candidates to replace O'Connor. On July 19, Bush announced that he had chosen John G. Roberts, Jr. as O'Connor's replacement. After William Rehnquist died of complications from thyroid cancer on September 3, Bush withdrew this nomination and renominated Roberts for Chief Justice, to which he was confirmed.

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