It seems that Senator Sam Brownback has some allies on the judiciary committee. While the Senators have previously publicly withheld their judgment, it appears that Senator Brownback’s views are shared by many of the aides and lawyers helping the committee prepare. From tomorrow’s New York Times:
As the White House seeks to rally senators behind the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers, lawyers for the Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee are expressing dissatisfaction with the choice and pushing back against her, aides to 6 of the 10 Republican committee members said yesterday.
“Everybody is hoping that something will happen on Miers, either that the president would withdraw her or she would realize she is not up to it and pull out while she has some dignity intact,” a lawyer to a Republican committee member said.
These aides are not only “not convinced” about Miers, they are openly hostile. I don’t think I need to state just how much Senators rely on their aides for advice and counsel. The aides are enormously influential. Additionally, it appears that the republican Senators on the Judiciary committee are preparing for a fight. Not against the Democrats but against the President and his choice.
Republican staff members on the Judiciary Committee usually research and prepare arguments to defend the president’s nominees. But Republican staff members on the panel said committee lawyers were doing research to rebut the “talking points” the White House has provided for senators to support Ms. Miers’s nomination.
Why is this important to Senator Brownback’s eventual presidential run? This could legitimize his point of view as well as showing him in a leadership role. If he turns out to be the head of a coalition of conservative senators his profile will not only be that of an arch-conservative but also that of a leader who rides into battle for principle and can convince and inspire those around him.
For the moment it looks like Senator Brownback’s gamble has paid off. If conservatives on the committee end up joining him in dissent he will be remembered as the pioneer.