Content deleted Content added
BilledMammal (talk | contribs) Post-move cleanup: Changed link from ABC News to ABC News (United States) using Move+ |
|||
(9 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 37:
}}
'''Harriet Ellan Miers''' (born August 10, 1945) is an American lawyer who served as [[White House Counsel|White House counsel]] to President [[George W. Bush]] from 2005 to 2007. A member of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] since 1988, she previously served as [[White House Office of the Staff Secretary|White House
==Early life and education==
Miers was born in [[Dallas]] and spent most of her life there until she moved to [[Washington, D.C.]], (2001) to work in the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush
Miers entered [[Southern Methodist University]] intending to become a [[teacher]]. The economic plight of her family was so dire that she almost dropped out in her freshman year, but she was able to find part-time work that put her through college. Then, her father had a debilitating [[cerebrovascular accident|stroke]]. When a lawyer helped organize her family's financial situation, Miers was inspired to enter law school.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/politics/politicsspecial1/miers-known-as-a-hardworking-advocate-for-the-president.html|title=Miers Known as a Hard-Working Advocate for the President|work=The New York Times|author=Todd S. Purdum and Neil A. Lewis|date=October 4, 2005|access-date=February 26, 2022|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060331221938/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2005/10/04/politics/politicsspecial1/04miers.html?ei=5090&en=8633b32cec749877&ex=1286078400&pagewanted=all|archivedate=March 31, 2006}}</ref> In 1967, Miers graduated from [[Southern Methodist University]] with a [[bachelor's degree]] in [[mathematics]]
==Career==
Line 51:
In the late 1990s, while Miers was on the advisory board for Southern Methodist University's law school, she helped create and fund a Women's Studies lecture series named after pioneering Texas lawyer [[Louise B. Raggio]], who was a mentor to Miers.<ref>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216060001/http://chronicle.com/free/2005/10/2005100602n.htm|archivedate=February 16, 2006|title=Supreme Court Nominee Helped Set Up Lecture Series That Brought Leading Feminists to Southern Methodist U.|url=http://chronicle.com/free/2005/10/2005100602n.htm|last=Schmidt|first=Peter|work=Chronicle of Higher Education|date=October 6, 2005|accessdate=February 26, 2022|url-status=dead}}</ref> Raggio, who died in 2011, knew Miers for nearly 40 years, since Miers was a student at Southern Methodist University. Miers was one class behind Raggio's son at SMU, and Raggio became a mentor for Miers; years later she served as a close advisor to Miers during the Texas Bar race. "I was interested in having a woman president," Raggio says. "She was an electable woman, a woman with a big firm behind her. Women's groups supported her because they wanted to show that a woman would be a competent president.".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/10/19/miers_abortion/index.html|title=Will Miers help topple Roe v. Wade?|work=Salon.com|date=October 19, 2005|access-date=2007-01-04|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509113912/http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/10/19/miers_abortion/index.html|archive-date=May 9, 2007}}</ref>
From 1972 until 2001 Miers worked for the Dallas law firm of [[Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell|Locke, Liddell & Sapp]] (and predecessor firms before mergers). She was the first female lawyer hired by the firm and later became its president. When the merger that created Locke, Liddell & Sapp took place in 1999, she became the co-managing partner of a legal business with more than 400 lawyers. In 2000 the firm settled a lawsuit for $22 million that accused the firm of having "aided a client in defrauding investors".<ref name="bankrupt.com">{{cite journal|url=http://bankrupt.com/CAR_Public/000501.MBX|publisher=InterNet Bankruptcy Library|title=LOCKE LIDDELL: $ 22 Mil Settlement Serves as Warning to Other Law Firms|journal=Class Action Reporter|volume=2|issue=83|date=May 1, 2000|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000818031647/http://bankrupt.com/CAR_Public/000501.MBX|archivedate=August 18, 2000|url-status=dead|accessdate=February 26, 2022}}</ref> According to the ''Class Action Reporter'', Miers "said the firm denies liability in connection with its representation of Erxleben. 'Obviously, we evaluated that this was the right time to settle and to resolve this matter and that it was in the best interest of the firm to do so,' Miers said."<ref name="bankrupt.com"/>
As a commercial litigator, she represented clients including [[Microsoft]] and the [[Walt Disney Company]].
Line 71:
In 1995, George W. Bush, then Texas governor, appointed Miers to chair the [[Texas Lottery]] Commission. Some have credited Miers with reforming the commission after a previous corruption scandal.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/04/usa.topstories3|title=Bush offers crucial supreme court seat to his former lawyer|author=Julian Borger|date=October 4, 2005|access-date=2007-01-04|work=The Guardian|location=London|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007214549/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/04/usa.topstories3|archivedate=October 7, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Her tenure has also been criticized. In 1997, the commission under Miers hired Lawrence Littwin as executive director but fired him five months later. At the time, the contract to operate the lottery was held by the politically connected [[GTECH Corporation|GTech Corporation]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/1999/nov/28/observerbusiness.theobserver13 |title=It's rollover time for the Lottery|work=The Observer|place=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010418014428/http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3935858,00.html |archive-date=
According to [[Texans for Public Justice]], GTech paid Littwin $300,000 to settle the suit.<ref>{{cite web|author=Texans for Public Justice |url=http://www.tpj.org/docs/2000/10/reports/appointments/boards.html|title=Governor Bush's Well-Appointed Texas Officials: Well-Appointed State Boards|publisher=Texans for Public Justice|date=October 2000|access-date=February 26, 2022|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040130052901/http://www.tpj.org/docs/2000/10/reports/appointments/boards.html|archivedate=January 30, 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Line 94:
On October 3, 2005, Bush nominated Miers to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, saying, "Harriet Miers will be the type of judge I said I would nominate: a good conservative judge."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/politics/politicsspecial1/09confirm.html?pagewanted=print&_r= | work=The New York Times | title=Bush Works to Reassure G.O.P. Over Nominee for Supreme Court | date=October 9, 2005}}</ref> Miers's nomination was criticized by people of various political views for the fact that she had never served as a judge at any level, her perceived lack of intellectual rigor, her close personal ties to Bush, and her lack of a clear record on issues likely to be encountered as a Supreme Court Justice. Many notable conservatives vigorously criticized her nomination, and numerous conservative groups normally considered part of Bush's [[base (politics)|political base]] planned to mount an organized opposition campaign.
Miers met with the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] after her nomination and in those meetings she was ill-prepared and uninformed on the law.{{sfn|Greenburg|2008|p=278}} Senator [[Tom Coburn]] told her privately that she "flunked" and "[was] going to have to say something next time."{{sfn|Greenburg|2008|p=278}}
In an unprecedented move, [[Senate Judiciary Committee]] Chairman [[Arlen Specter]] and ranking Democrat [[Patrick Leahy (politician)|Patrick Leahy]] also requested that Miers re-do some of her answers to the questionnaire submitted to her by the Committee, noting that her responses were "inadequate", "insufficient", and "insulting" because she failed or refused to adequately answer various questions with acceptable accuracy or with sufficient detail.{{sfn|Greenburg|2008|p=281}} Miers also was claimed to have privately expressed a belief in the right to privacy to the pro-choice Arlen Specter, only to later deny that she had communicated that position.{{sfn|Greenburg|2008|pp=280-281}} Her answers also included an error on constitutional law where she mentioned an explicit constitutional right for proportional representation; though many court rulings have found that legislative and other districts of unequal population violate the [[equal protection clause]], the right to proportional districts is not explicitly mentioned in the United States Constitution.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/19/AR2005101902402.html|title=Senators Assail Miers's Replies, Ask for Details|access-date=February 26, 2022|newspaper=The Washington Post|first1=Charles|last1=Babington|first2=Michael A.|last2=Fletcher|date=October 20, 2005|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051024231349/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/19/AR2005101902402.html|archivedate=October 24, 2005|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Line 115:
[[Kyle Sampson]], chief of staff to [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Alberto R. Gonzales]], wrote to Miers in January 2006 to recommend that the Department of Justice and the Office of the Counsel to the President work together to seek the replacement of a limited number of U.S. Attorneys, saying that limiting the number of attorneys "targeted for removal and replacement" would "mitigat[e] the shock to the system that would result from an across-the-board firing."<ref name="Eggen-Solomon20070313">{{cite news|access-date=2007-03-13|author=Eggen, Dan|author2=John Solomon|date=March 13, 2007|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201818_pf.html|title=Firings Had Genesis in White House Ex-Counsel Miers First Suggested Dismissing Prosecutors 2 Years Ago, Documents Show|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=Page A01}}</ref> In March 2007 the White House had suggested that the plan came from Miers, who had left the White House in January 2007, before the dismissal received public attention.<ref name="Eggen-Solomon20070313"/> The firings have led to Congressional investigations regarding the [[Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy|dismissals]].
On June 13, 2007, the Senate and House Judiciary Committees issued subpoenas to Miers and to [[Sara M. Taylor]], former deputy assistant to President Bush and the White House director of political affairs, asking them to produce documents and appear before the committees to testify about what role, if any, both may have had in the U.S. Attorney firings controversy. Miers was requested to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 11, 2007. The White House reiterated its longstanding demand that no past or present White House officials would be permitted to testify under oath before the panels, and that private interviews, not under oath, and without transcripts would be permitted. The Chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees reiterated that the White House terms were unacceptable.<ref name="NYT-Stout-2007-06-13">{{cite news|first=David|last=Stout|title=Congress Subpoenas Miers and Another Former Bush Aide|date=June 13, 2007|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/washington/13cnd-attorneys.html?hp|work=The New York Times|access-date=2007-06-13}}</ref> Ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee [[Arlen Specter|Arlen Specter (R-PA)]] said that the committee had "really had no response from the White House" regarding possible testimony on the firing of several U.S. attorneys, and that had prompted the subpoena to compel a response. Miers refused to appear before Congress because Bush ordered her not to.<ref name="Hill-Marre-2007-06-13">{{cite news|first=Klaus|last=Marre|title=Specter endorses subpoena of White House official|date=June 13, 2007|publisher=Capitol Hill Publishing|url=http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/specter-agrees-with-issuing-subpoena-2007-06-13.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603212008/http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/specter-agrees-with-issuing-subpoena-2007-06-13.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 3, 2008|work=The Hill|access-date=2007-06-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Senate Judiciary Committee Subpoena of Harriet Miers |publisher=Gonzales Watch |url=http://www.gonzaleswatch.com/2007/06/13/senate-judiciary-subpoenas-harriet-miers-former-white-house-counsel/ |date=2007-06-13 |access-date=2007-06-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629135935/http://www.gonzaleswatch.com/2007/06/13/senate-judiciary-subpoenas-harriet-miers-former-white-house-counsel/ |archive-date=June 29, 2007 }}</ref> On Wednesday, July 25, 2007, the [[House Judiciary Committee]] voted 22–17 to cite Miers for [[contempt of Congress]] for her failure to appear before the committee in response to its subpoena.<ref name=twssffwe>{{cite news|title=Panel Holds Two Bush Aides in Contempt|work=The New York Times|quote=The House Judiciary Committee voted today to seek contempt of Congress citations against a top aide to President Bush and a former presidential aide over their refusal to cooperate in an inquiry about the firing of federal prosecutors.... president's chief of staff, and Harriet E. Miers|date=July 25, 2007|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/washington/25cnd-contempt.html?_r=1|access-date=2010-09-22|first=David|last=Stout}}</ref> On February 14, 2008, the full House of Representatives voted to cite her for contempt by a vote of 223–32. Many Republicans walked out of the chamber in protest, deriding the priorities of the speaker in calling the vote, as opposed to a vote on a surveillance bill.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/washington/15contempt.html?hp|work=The New York Times|title=House Votes to Issue Contempt Citations|first=Philip|last=Shenon|date=February 15, 2008|access-date=May 4, 2010}}</ref>
On March 4, 2009, Miers and former [[White House Deputy Chief of Staff|Deputy Chief of Staff]] to President Bush [[Karl Rove]] agreed to testify under oath before Congress about the firings of U.S. attorneys.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/04/karl-rove-harriet-miers-t_n_171961.html|title=Karl Rove, Harriet Miers To Testify Before House Judiciary Committee|website=[[HuffPost]]}}</ref>
Line 122:
Miers is a close friend of former [[Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]] and former [[United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture]] [[Ann Veneman]]. [[Texas Supreme Court]] Justice [[Nathan Hecht]] has known her for more than 25 years. After Miers's nomination to the Supreme Court, Hecht was cited as an unofficial spokesperson representing her views.
In 1979, after she made partner in her law firm, she became an evangelical Christian after a series of long discussions with Hecht, who was her colleague at the firm.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/10/05/MNGB5F2N671.DTL |title=A BORN-AGAIN NOMINEE |author=Ed Wyatt and Simone Romero of ''[[The New York Times]]'' |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle |date=August 29, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810084916/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=
==See also==
Line 161:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miers, Harriet}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:21st-century American women lawyers]]▼
[[Category:21st-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:Dallas City Council members]]▼
[[Category:Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy]]
[[Category:George W. Bush administration personnel]]
[[Category:Hillcrest High School (Dallas) alumni]]
▲[[Category:Dallas City Council members]]
[[Category:Southern Methodist University alumni]]▼
[[Category:Lawyers from Dallas]]
[[Category:Living people]]
▲[[Category:Southern Methodist University alumni]]
[[Category:Texas Republicans]]
[[Category:Unsuccessful nominees to the United States Supreme Court]]
[[Category:White House Deputy Chiefs of Staff]]▼
[[Category:White House Counsels]]
▲[[Category:White House Deputy Chiefs of Staff]]
[[Category:White House Staff Secretaries]]
▲[[Category:21st-century American women]]
|