Miers Out: Looking back, the thing that sank her nomination was the release of her correspondence with the President, which reinforced the argument that she wasn't simply a crony of the President, but a particulary sycophantic one. Her response to the Senate Judiciary Committee's written questionnaire didn't help either; the net result was that she seemed like the female Abe Fortas, without the brains. And that was a shame; her resume indicated that she was someone who had risen to great heights within her profession in spite of many obstacles, including overcoming an extremely sexist culture, both in her home state and in her profession, to helm a top lawfirm, and later to become White House Counsel. The worst news about the defeat of Harriet Miers is that future Presidents will be reticent about nominating anyone to the high court outside the insular club of Ivy League graduates, law professors, former Supreme Court clerks, and appellate litigators and judges. What we will gain in intellectual quality we will lose in having people on the court with different life experiences and perspectives; no more Lewis Powells or John Marshall Harlans.

But the best news about her defeat is the simple fact that Democrats didn't have to lift a finger on this one. Credit goes entirely to the far right punditocracy on this one. It was they who decided to ditch every argument they ever made in the past to justify the silence of any of their stealth nominees, dating back to Clarence Thomas, who decided that suddenly the public had the right to know about conversations with the President that he deemed privileged, who felt that litmus tests on issues ranging from abortion to gay civil rights to the right of privacy were suddenly appropriate. Everything is now back on the table for Democrats. Assuming that O'Connor doesn't do the wise thing at this point and withdraw her resignation, we should run out the clock until the next election, using the conservatives' own playbook to oppose any inapt pick.