Many Democrats reserving judgment on Miers

WASHINGTON -- Despite vows to fight President Bush's next conservative Supreme Court nominee, Senate Democrats and leading liberal groups are largely holding their fire over Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers, calculating that their best move is to stay out of the conservative movement's internal battle about whether Miers is the best choice for the high court.

Since Bush nominated Miers, his White House counsel, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor 12 days ago, prominent Democrats like senators Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Charles E. Schumer of New York have been mostly silent. Both senators, who sit on the committee that will question Miers and vote on her nomination, say they need more information to make informed judgments.

The wait-and-see strategy contrasts sharply with their party's handling of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s nomination this summer, when some top Democrats and well-funded liberal organizations talked about their concerns within a few days of his selection. This time, they are content to stay on the sidelines and watch the right-wing furor over Miers play out, according to party strategists and Senate aides.

''What are we going to say that the Republicans aren't already saying?" said one aide to a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaking on the condition of anonymity. ''It's quite a bit of fun to let the Republicans skewer themselves."

That approach underscores the extent to which Bush's choice of Miers, his longtime friend and personal attorney, has upended political expectations. Doubts about Miers so far have come primarily from Republicans, who question her credentials as a conservative. Citing her thin record and lack of judicial experience, they've insisted that Miers must be forthcoming in her confirmation hearings to win confirmation, the same demand that Democrats made of Roberts during his hearings.

Still, Roberts deflected tough questions about his personal opinions, and 22 of 44 Senate Democrats voted for his confirmation. Liberal groups and party leaders promised to use all their resources against the next high court nominee if Bush picked an archconservative.

Since Miers's Oct. 3 nomination, however, a handful of Democrats are among her staunchest defenders. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who voted against Roberts, offered quick praise for Miers and took credit for suggesting her name to the president, though he later said that doesn't necessarily mean he'll vote for her confirmation. Last week, Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, blasted Miers's right-wing critics for what she called ''sexism" and a ''double standard."

Democrats say that their relative silence on Miers, a born-again Christian who has contributed to Democrats, stems partly from the fact that she's an enigma to them at this point. Roberts, a former legal aide in the Reagan administration, wrote publicly available opinions during two years on the federal bench, and some of the documents he produced for the White House were quickly available for review.

By contrast, Democrats don't even know yet which sets of Miers's documents to request, much less what sort of paper record she's got.

Several Senate aides said Democrats will begin sharpening their inquiry into Miers's background and opinions next week, after she completes a questionnaire sent to her by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

''The big difference is, by this point, we knew much more about Roberts than we do about Miers," said Nan Aron, president of the liberal group Alliance for Justice, one of the first organizations to oppose Roberts's nomination.

Aron said the fight among conservatives has superceded any serious discussion about Miers, her qualifications, or her ideology. She said Democrats will be ready to investigate those issues when hearings begin, most likely next month.

''It's very hard to get the press or senators to focus on her record when the radical right is in a state of rebellion over Bush's choice," she said. ''The hearing will obviously be an opportunity to focus a spotlight on her record."

Democrats are signaling they want to know a lot about Miers, including her involvement in the Bush administration's policies regarding torture and ''enemy combatants," and they intend to ask whether her close relationship with Bush could affect her independence from the executive branch.

Democrats realize that opposing Miers on ideological grounds could unite conservatives in her defense, said Bill Carrick, a Democratic political consultant and former Kennedy aide.

''The Democrats are driving by the accident, and they're looking out the window wondering what's going on," Carrick said.