Harriet Miers

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Harriet Miers


image_width=
order=31st
title=White House Counsel
term_start=2004
term_end=2007
predecessor=Alberto Gonzales
successor=Fred F. Fielding
president=George W. Bush
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birth_date= birth date and age|mf=yes|1945|08|10
birth_place=Dallas, Texas
death_date=
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party=Republican
spouse=
profession=Lawyer
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Harriet Ellan Miers (born August 10, 1945) is an American lawyer and former White House Counsel. On January 4, 2007, she submitted her resignation from the position of White House Counsel, effective January 31. [cite web|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6232291.stm|title=Bush's top lawyer Miers resigns|publisher=BBC|date=2007-01-04|accessdate=2007-01-04]

President George W. Bush nominated her on October 3, 2005, for Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The nomination was met with opposition from both sides of the political spectrum, and on October 27, President Bush withdrew her nomination, saying Miers had asked him to do so.

Early life and education

Miers was born in Dallas, Texas, and spent most of her life there until she moved to Washington, D.C. (2001) to work in the Bush administration. She describes herself as a "Texan through and through." [cite web
url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1584254,00.html
publisher = The Guardian (United Kingdom)
title=Bush offers crucial supreme court seat to his former lawyer
date=October 4, 2005
accessdate=2007-01-04] She is the fourth of the five children of real estate investor Harris Wood Miers, Sr., and his wife, the former Erma (Sally) Grace Richardson. [cite web
url=http://www.wargs.com/other/miers.html
title=Ancestry of Harriet Miers
author=Robert Battle
publisher=William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services
accessdate=2008-07-28]

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 stroke. When a lawyer helped organize her family's financial situation, Miers was inspired to enter law school. [cite web
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/politics/politicsspecial1/04miers.html?ex=1286078400&en=8633b32cec749877&ei=5090
title=Miers Known as a Hard-Working Advocate for the President
publisher="New York Times"
author=Todd S. Purdum and Neil A. Lewis
date=October 4, 2005
accessdate=2007-01-04] Miers graduated from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor's degree in mathematics (1967) and from its Law School with a Juris Doctor degree (1970). [cite web
url=http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/SupremeCourt/story?id=1170572&page=1
title=Who is Harriet Miers
date=2005-10-27
publisher=ABC News
accessdate=2007-01-25] ["Harriet Miers." Biography Resource Center Online. Gale, 2005.Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC.Document Number: K1650004986]

Career

In the summer of 1969, between her second and third years of law school, Miers worked as a clerk for Belli, Ashe, Ellison, Choulos & Lieff, the San Francisco law firm founded by "King of Torts," the eccentric attorney, Melvin Belli. Miers was immersed in tort law. Her supervisor was [http://www.lieffglobal.com/profiles/lieff.htm Robert Lieff] , then a partner in the Belli firm and later a founder of the nationally prominent plaintiffs' law firm [http://www.lieffcabraser.com Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP] . In a 2005 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Lieff stated that Miers "saw what we did for people who needed to get a lawyer and were only able to get a lawyer by a contingent fee." [ cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/10/05/MNGB5F2MRV1.DTL|title=Miers interned with Melvin Belli but returned to Dallas|author=Bob Egelko|publisher=date=October 5, 2005|accessdate=2007-01-04 ] .

After graduating from law school, from 1970 to 1972, Miers was a law clerk for the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Joe E. Estes. She was admitted to the bar in Texas 1970 and has not been admitted to the Washington DC bar.

In 1979, after she made partner in her law firm, she became an evangelical Christian after having had a series of long discussions with Nathan Hecht, her close friend and colleague at the firm. [cite web|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]

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 (see [http://chronicle.com/temp/email.php?id=e6yeo9i8hnrs60hye6marcd5rt52f6f5] ) ["Raggio, now 83, has known 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.'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?|publisher=Salon.com|date=October 19, 2005|accessdate=2007-01-04] .

From 1972 until 2001, Miers worked for the Dallas law firm of Locke, Liddell & Sapp (and predecessor firms prior to 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 which accused the firm of having "aided a client in defrauding investors" [cite web|url=http://bankrupt.com/CAR_Public/000501.MBX|publisher=InterNet Bankruptcy Library|title=Class Action Reporter|date=May 1, 2000|accessdate=2007-01-05] for $22 million; according to the Class Action Reporter, Miers "said the firmdenies liability in connection with its representation of Erxleben.'Obviously, we evaluated that this was the right time to settle and toresolve this matter and that it was in the best interest of the firm todo so,' Miers said." [cite web|url=http://bankrupt.com/CAR_Public/000501.MBX|publisher=InterNet Bankruptcy Library|title=Class Action Reporter|date=May 1, 2000|accessdate=2007-01-05]

As a commercial litigator, she represented clients including Microsoft and the Walt Disney Company.

In 1986, Miers became the first female president of the Dallas Bar Association. In 1992, Miers became the first woman to head the State Bar of Texas. She has also served as chair of the Board of Editors for the "American Bar Association Journal" and as the chair of the ABA's "Commission on Multi-Jurisdictional Practice."

In 1989, Miers was elected to a two-year term as an at-large member of the Dallas City Council. She did not run for reelection in 1991 after a restructure of the city council converted Miers' at-large seat, elected by voters citywide, into a single-district seat.

Miers met George W. Bush in January 1989 at an Austin dinner, an annual affair held for legislators and other important people. Nathan Hecht, a mutual friend and Miers' date, made the introduction. Miers subsequently worked as general counsel for Bush's transition team in 1994, when he was first elected Governor of Texas. She subsequently became Bush's personal lawyer and worked as a lawyer in his 2000 presidential campaign.

While head of the State Bar of Texas, Miers joined an unsuccessful effort to have the American Bar Association maintain its then-official position of neutrality on abortion. The ABA had adopted abortion neutrality at its 1990 annual meeting in Chicago. By the summer of 1994, at its annual meeting in San Francisco, the issue was again pending before the ABA assembly. Miers, who had not been involved in the Chicago meeting, supported ABA abortion neutrality in San Francisco on two grounds. First, the State Bar of Texas was statutorily prohibited from taking positions on political issues. Second, Texas had made bar membership an attorney licensure requirement, thus forcing all Texas attorneys to support financially the ABA's position, regardless of their personal convictions. ABA neutrality on abortion was defeated at the San Francisco meeting. The association has remained supportive of the pro-choice position ever since.

Since September 1994, Miers has contributed to the campaigns of various Republicans (at about the same time she began to work for George W. Bush), including Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Phil Gramm, and Pete Sessions, with recorded contributions to Republican candidates and causes totaling nearly $12,000. Her earlier political history shows support for the Democrats during the 1980s, with recorded contributions to Democratic candidates and causes, including the Democratic National Committee, the Senate campaign of Lloyd Bentsen and the 1988 presidential campaign of Al Gore, totaling $3,000. Her last recorded contribution to a Democratic cause or campaign was in 1988. Ed Gillespie said that she was a "conservative Democrat" at the time.

In April of 2007, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell announced that Miers was returning to the firm. [ [http://www.lockelord.com/files/News/ab1b298f-0b46-4f65-9932-1593f2c60bdb/Presentation/NewsAttachment/9cba129c-6a1c-47fb-9685-15cfe39fcc7b/harriet_Miers_Returns.DOC "Harriet Miers Returning to Locke Liddell & Sapp; Will Split Time Between D.C., Dallas and Austin Offices"] - 4-18-2007 - Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell] In her new role at the firm, Miers has registered with the United States Department of State as an agent for the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Embassy of Pakistan. [ [http://news.muckety.com/2008/08/19/harriet-miers-goes-to-bat-for-pakistan/4632 "Harriet Miers goes to bat for Pakistan"] - 8/19/2008 - Muckety]

Personal life

Miers' mother and two of her brothers still live in Dallas; a third brother lives in Houston, Texas. She also had a sister, Kitty, who is deceased. Miers never married and has no children.

She is a close friend of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman. Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht has known her for more than 25 years. After Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court, Hecht was cited as an unofficial spokesperson representing her views.

Government service

Prior to assuming the position of White House Counsel, Miers had served as White House staff secretary, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Before joining the Bush administration, Miers was a lawyer in private practice for 27 years, handling business cases and acting as then-Governor Bush's personal lawyer. She served as the first female president of both the Dallas Bar Association and later the State Bar of Texas and also served one term on the Dallas City Council.

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 [cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1584254,00.html|title=Bush offers crucial supreme court seat to his former lawyer|author=Julian Borger|date=October 4, 2005
accessdate=2007-01-04] .

Her tenure has also been criticized, however. In 1997, the commission under Miers hired Lawrence Littwin as executive director but then fired him five months later. At the time, the contract to operate the lottery was held by the politically connected GTech Corporation (see [http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=19&row=3] ), which had obtained the contract with the help of a former Lieutenant Governor of Texas (Democrat Ben Barnes) [cite web|title=Texas Speaker Reportedly Helped Bush Get Into Guard|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/barnes092199.htm|publisher="The Washington Post"|author=George Lardner Jr.|date=September 21, 1999|accessdate=2007-01-04] . Littwin, as director, began an investigation into whether GTech had made illegal campaign contributions and whether GTech owed the commission millions of dollars for breaches of its contract. He stated that Miers ordered him to stop the investigation. He brought a lawsuit alleging that he was fired in retaliation for the investigation and to ensure that GTech would keep its contract (see [http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlo/76R/billtext/HC00153I.HTM] ).According to Texans for Public Justice, GTech paid Littwin $300,000 to settle the suit (see [http://www.tpj.org/docs/2000/10/reports/appointments/boards.html] ).

Miers resigned from the lottery commission in early 2000, a year before her term ended. She said her resignation had nothing to do with lagging sales in the system's biggest game, Lotto Texas, but rather that she wanted to allow her successor time to prepare for rebidding the lottery's primary operator contract.

There was some speculation during Bush's 2000 campaign that Bush would appoint Miers to the position of Attorney General. This was seen as possible with her trusted role as Bush's personal attorney and her many appointments during his tenure as governor. This also recalled William French Smith who was Ronald Reagan's personal attorney before being named Attorney General. Miers was not chosen and John Ashcroft became Attorney General instead.

In January 2001, Miers did follow Bush to Washington, D.C., serving as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary during the first two years of his presidency. In that role, she opposed the administration's 2001 decision to stop cooperating with the ABA rating of judicial nominees. In 2003, she was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. In November 2004, Bush named her to succeed Alberto Gonzales, his nominee for Attorney General, to the post of White House Counsel, the chief legal adviser for the Office of the President.

Miers is said to be one of Bush's closest personal friends and appears given to effusive praise for the President. According to former Bush speechwriter David Frum, Miers has called Bush the most brilliant man she had ever met [cite web|url=http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjliZWZlOWJhNjQ0ZjA0MmQyYThiMTBlNjhjYmE3ZTg=|title=Sep. 29, 2005: Justice Miers?|author=David Frum] and says he was the "best Governor ever" (see [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/11/politics/politicsspecial1/11archive.html] ). She also stated that "serving President Bush and Mrs. Bush is an impossible-to-describe privilege" and noted that Bush's personal qualities "make a brighter future for our nation and people all around the world possible." (see [http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-praise18oct18,0,3218543.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=morenews] ).

Miers' last public speech before her nomination was given to the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce on June 2, 2005.

upreme Court nomination and withdrawal

On July 1, 2005, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her intention to retire upon the confirmation of a successor. Bush appointed Miers as head of the search committee for candidates to replace O'Connor. On July 19, 2005, Bush announced John G. Roberts, Jr. as O'Connor's replacement. After William H. Rehnquist died of thyroid cancer on September 3, Bush withdrew this nomination and renominated Roberts for Chief Justice of the United States. The Senate confirmed the nomination on September 29.

Meanwhile, then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada),recommended Miers as O'Connor's successor. ["I had recommended that the President consider nominating Ms. Miers because I was impressed with her record of achievement as the managing partner of a major Texas law firm and the first woman president of the Texas Bar Association. In those roles she was a strong supporter of law firm diversity policies and a leader in promoting legal services for the poor. "cite web |url=http://reid.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=247842&&year=2005& |title= Reid on Miers Withdrawal (Press Release of Senator Reid)|author=Harry Reid|date=Thursday, October 27, 2005 |accessdate=2007-01-04 ] ["I like Harriet Miers. As White House Counsel, she has worked with me in a courteous and professional manner. I am also impressed with the fact that she was a trailblazer for women as managing partner of a major Dallas law firm and as the first woman president of the Texas Bar Association. In my view, the Supreme Court would benefit from the addition of a justice who has real experience as a practicing lawyer. The current justices have all been chosen from the lower federal courts. A nominee with relevant non-judicial experience would bring a different and useful perspective to the Court. "cite web |url=http://reid.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=246777&&year=2005&|title= STATEMENT OF SENATOR HARRY REID ON THE NOMINATION OF HARRIET MIERS TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT (Press Release of Senator Reid)|author=Harry Reid|date=Monday, October 3, 2005 |accessdate=2007-01-04 ] ["I continue to believe that Harriet Miers received a raw deal. She is an accomplished lawyer, a trailblazer for women and a strong advocate of legal services for the poor. Not only was she denied the up-down vote that my Republican colleagues say every nominee deserves, but she was never even afforded the chance to make her case to the Judiciary Committee."cite web |url=http://reid.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=250959&&year=2006&|title= REID STATEMENT ON THE CONFIRMATION OF SAMUEL ALITO (Press Release of Senator Reid)|author=Harry Reid|date=Tuesday, January 31, 2006 |accessdate=2007-01-04 ] Bush took the recommendation seriously, factoring into account suggestions by several senators that the nominee should come from outside the appellate court system. [] This caused several commentators to draw parallels with the 2000 election, when Dick Cheney, the head of Bush's vice-presidential search committee, was ultimately selected as the running mate. []

On October 3, 2005, Bush nominated Miers to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Miers' nomination was criticized from people all over the political spectrum based on her never having served as a judge, 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 political base planned to mount an organized opposition campaign.

Miers met with senators since her nomination was first announced, and in those meetings she was ill-prepared and uninformed on the law. [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 278.] Senator Tom Coburn told her privately that she "flunked" and " [was] going to have to say something next time." [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 278.] In mock sessions with lawyers, Miers had difficulty expressing her views and explaining basic constitutional law concepts. [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 278-279.] Miers had no experience in constitutional law, and did not have extensive litigation experience; at her Texas law firm, she had been more of a manager. [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 279.] Miers had rarely handled appeals and did not understand the complicated constitutional concepts senators asked of her. [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 279.] To White House lawyers, Miers was "less an attorney than a law firm manager and bar association president." [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 280.]

Early one-on-one meetings between Miers and the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were said to have gone poorly, and the White House considered suspending them to focus on preparation for the confirmation hearings. In an unprecedented move, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter and ranking Senator 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. [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 281.] Miers also privately expressed a belief in the right to privacy to the pro-choice Arlen Specter, only to later deny that she had communicated that. [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 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. []

After Miers failed in these private meetings, Republican senators Graham and Sam Brownback began drafting a letter asking the President's office to turn over legal memoranda and briefs Miers had written for Bush, in order to elucidate her views on political matters. [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 282.] Brownback and Graham knew the memos were protected by executive privilege, that the White House could not turn them over, and that Miers could refuse to deliver the memos and then ostensibly step down on principle. [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 282.] Miers would later use this request as part of a face-saving exit strategy for stepping down - in her letter withdrawing her nomination, she pointed to the senators' request for confidential documents as potentially damaging the executive branch's independence. [Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.2007. Penguin Books. Page 284.]

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) stated shortly after the meetings that "I think, if you were to hold the vote today, she would not get a majority, either in the Judiciary Committee or on the floor." However, Specter, the committee chairman, rejected the notion that Miers' nomination was shaky. He said that most senators were waiting for the hearings before making up their mind. "There are no votes one way or another," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation". On October 19, 2005, Specter and Leahy announced their intent to begin confirmation hearings for Miers on November 7, 2005.

On October 27, 2005, the White House announced that Harriet Miers had asked President Bush to withdraw her nomination, citing fears that the nomination would create a "burden for the White House and its staff and it is not in the best interest of the country." President Bush stated that the Senate's interest in internal White House documents "would undermine a president's ability to receive candid counsel" and that he had "reluctantly accepted" her request. Miers was the first Supreme Court nominee to withdraw since Douglas H. Ginsburg in 1987 and the seventh to do so in U.S. history.

Although many in Washington and in the media expressed surprise at Miers' decision to withdraw, the move was widely anticipated. Fact|date=March 2008

Bush nominated Samuel Alito for the seat on October 31, 2005, and he was confirmed on January 31, 2006. Miers remained as White House Counsel for another year until announcing her resignation on January 4, 2007 [] .

Resignation and departure from the White House

Joshua B. Bolten, upon becoming G.W. Bush's chief of staff in April 2006, pressed for Ms. Miers' resignation, but the idea was rejected by President Bush. After the 2006 elections, when Democrats won a majority of both houses of Congress, Mr. Bolten asked again for her departure, arguing that the president needed an aggressive lawyer and increased staff for the Office of Legal Counsel to fend off congressional inquiries and subpoenas. The second effort succeeded, and Ms. Miers announced her resignation January 4, 2007, and left January 31, 2007. [Johnston, David and Sheryl Gay Stolberg. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/washington/10gonzales.html Gonzales Seems Confident He Will Stay, Officials Say] "The New York Times" May 10, 2007. Retrieved May 10, 2007.] ] ] In April 2007, Ms. Miers rejoined her previous firm, Locke Liddell & Sapp, and became a partner in its litigation and public policy group. She maintains offices in Austin, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. The firm is now known as Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell.

Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, wrote in January 2006 to White House counsel Harriet Miers that he recommended 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, and that by limiting the number of attorneys "targeted for removal and replacement" it would "mitigat [e] the shock to the system that would result from an across-the-board firing." cite news|accessdate=2007-03-13
author=Eggen, Dan |coauthor=John Solomon |date=March 13, 2007 |url=http://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 |work=Washington Post|page=Page A01] In March 2007 the White House had originally suggested that the plan came from Miers who had already left the White House in January 2007, before the dismissal received public attention.] The firings have led to Congressional investigations regarding the dismissals.

On June 13, 2007 The Senate and House judiciary committees issued subpoenas to Harriet E. Miers, former White House counsel, and Sara M. Taylor, former deputy assistant to President Bush and the White House director of political affairs to production of 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.cite news | first=David | last=Stout | coauthors= | title=Congress Subpoenas Miers and Another Former Bush Aide | date=June 13, 2007 | publisher= | url =http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/washington/13cnd-attorneys.html?hp | work =New York Times | pages = | accessdate = 2007-06-13 | language = ] Ranking member of the Senate Judiciary committee, 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 that had prompted the subpoena to compel a response. Miers refused to appear before Congress because Bush ordered her not to.] []

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. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/washington/25cnd-contempt.html] On Feb. 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. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/washington/15contempt.html?hp]

Awards and honors

Timeline

*August 10, 1945: Harriet Miers born in Dallas, Texas.
*1967: Miers graduates from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor's degree in mathematics
*Summer 1969: Miers works for the firm of Belli, Ashe, Ellison, Choulos & Lieff
*1970: Miers graduates from Southern Methodist University School of Law with a law degree
*1970–1972: Miers works as a law clerk for Joe E. Estes, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
*1972: Miers begins working in private practice for the Dallas firm of Locke, Liddell & Sapp and predecessor firms prior to mergers.
*1986: Miers becomes the first female president of the Dallas Bar Association
*January, 1989: Miers meets George W. Bush.
*1989–1991: Miers elected an at-large member on the Dallas City Council; did not run for reelection.
*1992: Miers becomes the first female head of the State Bar of Texas.
*1994: Miers works as general counsel for Bush's transition team when Bush becomes governor of Texas.
*1995: She becomes Bush's personal lawyer.
*1995: Texas governor George W. Bush appoints Miers to chair the Texas Lottery Commission.
*2000: Miers resigns from the Texas Lottery Commission, a year before her term ended.
*2000: Locke, Liddell & Sapp settle a lawsuit asserting that "it aided a client in defrauding investors" for $22 million.
*2000: Miers as a lawyer in his 2000 presidential campaign.
*2001–2003: Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary
*2003: Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
*2004: White House Counsel, the chief legal adviser for the Office of the President.
*2005: Nominated to Supreme Court.
*October 27, 2005: Supreme Court nomination withdrawn.
*January 4, 2007: Announced resignation as White House Legal Counsel.
*January 31, 2007: Effective date of resignation and departure from the White House.
*June, 2008: Undergoes hysterectomy at Dallas Regional Hospital.

ee also

*John Roberts
*Unsuccessful nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States

Footnotes

External links

;Contempt of Congress References
* [http://publicservice.evendon.net/#DOJInterns DC Federal Court Complaint and Opinion]

;Supreme Court References
* [http://www.npr.org/documents/2005/oct/miers/miersquestionnaire.pdf Miers' responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire] (PDF)
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9837502/ Bush statement on Miers withdrawal]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/27/AR2005102700680.html Text of Miers' Letter to President Bush]

;News articles
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR2005062001161.html Washington Post profile]
* [http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/nation/stories/030305dnnatmiers.19086.html Dallas Morning News profile]
* [http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/27/D8CSSDT8B.html News story on possible SCOTUS nomination]
* [http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/03/scotus.preview/index.html CNN announcement of Miers as candidate and review of issues before SCOTUS]
* [http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/10/03/miers.profile.ap/index.html
]
* [http://dallasbar.org/members/headnotes.asp?item=330 Dallas Bar Association Fellows Honor Legal Trailblazer Harriet E. Miers]
* [http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1102944936042 Down to the Last Detail] - Legal Times: Bush's pick for White House counsel sports an exacting style
* [http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Room&CONTENTID=29106&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm Senate Review of Harriet Miers Should Be Thorough and Complete] - "Human Rights Campaign"
* [http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/03/D8D0MMQG0.html Miers Led Bid to Revisit Abortion Stance of the ABA]
* [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/10/04/by_helping_out_bush_miers_built_her_career/ By helping out Bush, Miers built her career] - "The Boston Globe"
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/politics/politicsspecial1/04miers.html?ex=1286078400&en=8633b32cec749877&ei=5090 Miers Known as a Hard-Working Advocate for the President] - "The New York Times"
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR2005062001161.html Quiet but Ambitious White House Counsel Makes Life of Law] - "The Washington Post"
* [http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/nation/stories/100405dnnatabortion.d644831.html Ex-aide: Miers opposed abortion in 1989; stance now is unknown] - "The Dallas Morning News"
* [http://www.christianstandard.com/articledisplay.asp?id=134 Standard Publishing Article Profiles Harriet Miers, April 4 2001 -reprint.]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100401765.html Strong Grounding in the Church Could Be a Clue to Miers's Priorities] - "The Washington Post"
*"CounterPunch", [http://www.counterpunch.org/frank10042005.html The Scoop on Harriet Miers]
* [http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002383.html New Supreme Court Nominee's Ties to Bush's National Guard Scandal]

;Other links
* [http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2172806_1 FindLaw profile]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/hmiers-bio.html Official White House biography]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/20041029.html "Ask the White House"] - interview
* [http://www.newsmeat.com/washington_political_donations/Harriet_Miers.php Campaign contributions made by Harriet Miers]
* [http://www.lockelord.com/ Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell]
*Scholarly paper, [http://www.mit.edu/~tlh/2004MPSA.pdf "Presidential Strategies in Supreme Court Justice Selection"]
*Law.com, [http://www.law.com/special/professionals/influential/l_m.html "100 Most Influential Lawyers in America: L-M] "
* [http://www.slingshot.org/?p=135 Harriet Miers and Microsoft]
* [http://www.vvcc.org/ Valley View Christian Church]
* [http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/005630.php Who Is Harriet Miers?]
* [http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pp2/portal/files/portal/webzine/newspoliticsactivism/fean-051007-harriet-miers.xml Who is Harriet Miers?] (Planned Parenthood)
* [http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2005/10/harriet_mierss_.html Miers's public financial disclosure reports from her tenure in the White House]
* [http://www.texasbar.com/Template.cfm?Section=Member_Directory&template=/Customsource/MemberDirectory/MemberDirectoryDetail.cfm&ContactID=148215 State Bar of Texas member profile]
* [http://www.texasbar.com/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=13149&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm Harriet Miers' president's opinions written for the Texas Bar Journal during 1992-93]
* [http://harrietmiers.blogspot.com Satiric Harriet Miers Blog]
* [http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/currentawareness/miers.php Harriet Miers legal news and resources]
* [http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article.jsp?id=6&debateId=28&articleId=2899 Republican tremors] A toxic mix of money and power has sustained Republicans in the United States for a generation. Sidney Blumenthal exposes a corrupt system approaching legal nemesis.
* [http://www.avantnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=146 Satirical transcript of Harriet Miers' confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee]
*Fletcher, Michael A. "Quiet but ambitious White House counsel makes life of law." "Washington Post". June 21, 2005. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/20/AR2005062001161.html]
*Palast, Greg. "Dear Richard, don't say we didn't tell you." "The Guardian". January 21, 2004. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,425737,00.html]
*Waas, Murray [http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/070510nj1.htm "Administration withheld Emails about Rove"] "National Journal", May 10, 2007.