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Conservative Group Starts Anti-Miers Ads

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press

A conservative group opposing Supreme Court nominee
Harriet Miers bought $250,000 of TV and radio time
Tuesday to broadcast an advertisement nationwide
calling for President Bush to withdraw her nomination.

The White House said it was standing behind Miers.
"She is going to be going before the Senate Judiciary
Committee in less than two weeks," Bush spokesman
Scott McClellan said. "She looks forward to answering
their questions. And I think that people should not
try to rush to judgment on it."

The ad, by Americans for Better Justice, is the first
anti-Miers television ad, and it demonstrates the
ongoing battle the White House is facing over her
nomination. A relatively small purchase, it will air
nationally for a week on Fox News Channel.

Bush named Miers about a month ago as the replacement
for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a swing vote
on the court's abortion and affirmative action
decisions. The conservative group Progress for America
Voter Fund supported her nomination with television
ads.

However, many conservatives have criticized the
president for nominating Miers, a 60-year-old with no
experience as a judge and a scant public record on
controversial issues such as abortion rights.

"Conservatives have worked too hard for too long to
settle for anything less than our very best on the
Supreme Court," said David Frum, a former Bush
speechwriter who serves as a spokesman for Americans
for Better Justice.

Miers worked on gaining Senate support on Tuesday,
scheduling visits with Republicans John Ensign of
Nevada and Johnny Isaakson of Georgia, and Judiciary
Committee Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Miers'
Senate shepherd, former Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana,
also spoke to the Senate Republicans' weekly policy
luncheon.

None of the Senate's 55 Republican senators have
openly opposed Miers. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. — one of
the senators who have said conservatives would have
preferred someone else — said he expects most of the
Senate's majority Republicans to stay silent on Miers
until the confirmation hearings.

"I think most people are granting her, according her,
the benefit of the doubt, subject to the time she has
to appear before the committee to make her case in
person," Thune said.

Miers' confirmation hearing is scheduled to begin on
Nov. 7.

Senators are negotiating with the White House over
what kind of documents the administration will release
from Miers' time there. Bush said Monday that he will
not turn over documents detailing the private advice
Miers gave him while serving in the White House, but
senators say the administration has documents that can
be shared without interfering with the president's
ability to get advice.

"I think we can get materials which will be helpful to
us," said Senate Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter,
R-Pa.

Miers is expected on Wednesday to give the Senate her
answers to a second questionnaire crafted by the
committee. Specter and Judiciary's top Democrat, Sen.
Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont,
criticized Miers' responses to the committee's first
questionnaire as vague and incomplete.

"I would hope they would be a lot more complete than
last time," Leahy said.

___

On the Net:

Americans for Better Justice ad: http://www.betterjustice.com/

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