Last week John G. Roberts, Jr. was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 78-22 after he endured several full days of questioning, parrying angry attacks from Sens. Joe Biden, Dianne Feinstein, Ted Kennedy and Chuck Schumer. These and other Democrats have insisted that they could not vote to confirm Judge Roberts because of his legal views, despite the fact that he is extremely qualified for the post.
But I forget myself. Of course, it is the Senate's right to block a U.S. Supreme Court nomination per Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, which states that the President may appoint justices to the Supreme Court with the advice and consent of the Senate. Therefore, if Senate Democrats have a serious issue with Mr. Roberts' brand of jurisprudence, then they may withhold their consent. Never mind the fact that Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly to confirm Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg - who is arguably farther to the left than Mr. Roberts is to the right - even though they disagreed with her legal views because her qualifications were never in doubt.
Let us understand the Senate's actions to mean that extreme ideology is bad, but a lack of qualifications is worse.
What is interesting is that this confirmation process - which has hinged upon ideology instead of upon qualifications - is occurring against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina, which has generated its own controversy entirely around qualifications. The tepid response of federal agencies has prompted criticisms that federal employees were negligent and that some, such as FEMA director Michael Brown, were unqualified. Well, I know that I feel much safer knowing that the Senate will raise objections to judicial nominees based on ideology. If they will reject a judicial nominee based simply on ideology, then surely they will move Heaven and Earth to block unqualified nominees to important positions in the Department of Homeland Security.
Or will they?
Also on the Senate's plate right now is the nomination of Julie L. Myers, the niece of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B. Myers and the wife of John L. Wood, the current chief of staff under Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. This woman has connections that would make Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff jealous. What this ascendant 36-year-old does not have, however, are any credentials that qualify her to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Serving as a federal prosecutor, as an associate under independent counsel Ken Starr, and in several minor positions in the Departments of Commerce, Justice and the Treasury hardly qualifies one to manage billion-dollar budgets, let alone to be entrusted with the nation's border security.
Why would the President appoint to a politically sensitive post with national security responsibilities someone with so little experience and with such close ties to the administration that he could so easily be accused of nepotism?
Umm, I have a theory.
Remember when the President nominated John Bolton to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations? Democrats seized on his comments that the U.N. was irrelevant and charged that Mr. Bolton was unfit to serve in that office because he - and by extension, President Bush - did not believe that the U.N. should even exist. This case is eerily similar. President Bush has always been a supporter of offering amnesty to illegal aliens in this country and of throwing open our southern border with Mexico. For reasons passing understanding, the President does not see border security as a national security issue. Never mind the criminals and terrorists who may exploit our porous borders, the President wants an unfettered flow of immigrants into the country. What better way to achieve that goal than to appoint a completely incompetent and inexperienced bureaucrat to close down those borders?
But wait a minute! Surely, the Democrats will save us! Whenever President Bush's policies threaten the well being of ordinary Americans, we can always count on Senate Democrats to protect our interests. Whenever the President sells out to big business on national security issues, the Democrats are always there watching our back. No wonder I have heard so many Democrats expressing their outrage that someone like Ms. Myers should be appointed to head ICE. I guess that they only watch out for the base, and then only when it is good for fundraising.
There may be some truth to the Democrats' claims that President Bush does not care about ordinary Americans - his administration may even be corrupt - but the Democrats are too busy pleasing their base to worry about national security.
Jonathan D. McPike is a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences, and is the Eagle's independent columnist.
