Harriet the Bore

I’m bored with Harriet Miers. I know that’s a pretty irresponsible stance to take as a member of our nation’s democracy, but it’s the truth. Every day I cycle through the blogs and online periodicals looking for a new take on the whole debacle, but I keep finding the same old thing: The right doesn’t like her because she’s not right enough and the left doesn’t like her because she’s not very qualified. But the truth is, no one in the Senate is mounting a serious attack on her confirmation. She’ll probably limp across the finish line and onto the bench, not because she deserves it, but because no one cares enough to challenge her. Not exactly a high water mark for American politics.

But mediocre Supreme Court Justices are nothing new. I’ve been reading Peter Irons’ A People’s History of the Supreme Court, in which he documents a litany on non-entities who’ve sat on the bench. Some served their terms without leaving much of an imprint on American jurisprudence. Others stumbled their way onto the dark side of decisions that undermined equal rights in this country. I’ll spare you the book report, but if you’re interest in reading up on the underbelly of the third branch of American government, it’s worth picking up.

All this is a long introduction to me saying that this afternoon, I finally found a worthwhile Miers piece on the Web. Slate has just released the Miers-O-Meter, updated daily to reflect the nominee’s chance at confirmation. If this isn’t good online journalism, I don’t know what is.

--Matthew McCoy