No religious test

When John Roberts was nominated to the Supreme Court, some on the Left started raising questions about whether a Conservative, practicing Catholic should be allowed to sit on the federal bench. Then there was the brief flap over what was said to Illinois Senator Richard Durbin (D) over Roberts' possibly recusing himself in matters in direct conflict with his faith. The White House and its Conservative backers stuck to the principle that a nominee's religion should not be the issue, but whether the nominee is qualified. Roberts was eventually confirmed overwhelmingly which seemed to end the issue of religious affiliation and fitness for the Supreme Court.

Then the President nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers for the US Supreme Court. It appears not to have occurred to the White House she might need more qualifications than serving as a member of the Dallas City Council, head of the Texas lottery and as the President's former personal lawyer, not to mention college classmate of the First Lady.

Conservatives were quick to question the President's motives in appointing someone so close to him and to wonder how he could have misread the movement so badly.

As I've stated before, Conservatives expected three things from Bush, and the rest of the issues he had great leeway. The three things were taxes, national defense and the judiciary. Now with the Miers pick, Conservatives have a legitimate gripe that this judiciary pick is a broken promise. We were promised Scalia and Thomas, we got a gambling regulator. Gee, thanks.

Now the President defends his nominee,

"People are interested to know why I picked Harriet Miers," he said. "They want to know Harriet Miers' background. They want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. Part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion."

Between that and the meeting with James Dobson prior to the nomination getting announced, and we return to the whole question of a religious test. Upon hearing this, Christopher Hitchens must have looked out the window and raised a glass of Johnny Walker towards the Capitol.

The President may have thought he was getting a two-fer in identity politics in nominating an Evangelical Christian woman, but he's enraged much of his Conservative base instead. Instead of sailing through Miers is beginning to look like an affirmative action Titanic. Now the question has to be asked, will the Democrats save his nominee or will the religious politics question be enough to force Democrats to reject her, too?