Lawmakers react to Miers' withdrawal
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Following are brief statements Thursday in reaction to the withdrawal of Harriet Miers as President Bush's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court: "I look forward with anticipation to the president naming the next nominee quickly." -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee (Watch Sen. Frist react to Miers' withdrawal -- 2:07)"Apparently, Ms. Miers did not satisfy those who want to pack the Supreme Court with rigid ideologues. In choosing a replacement for Ms. Miers, President Bush should not reward the bad behavior of his right-wing base." -- Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada (Watch Sens. Reid and Schumer blame the GOP right-wing -- 3:40)Bush "should nominate a strict constructionist conservative." "That's what he is and ran as as president. He said, 'If you elect me this is the nominee you will get.' " -- Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, former majority leader (Watch Lott offer his opinion on Miers' withdrawal -- 5:43)"The president now should take his time. When we do it again, the president should do it right: slowly deliberately, carefully with real consultation and real consensus. One of the reasons for this problem -- this mistake -- is that there was no real consultation. There was no real reaching out and discussion of names back and forth." -- Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, Senate Judiciary Committee member"I think it was appropriate. She was not -- I didn't think, a lot of people didn't think -- really qualified. I think we all have to have some sympathy for her because she was thrust into a position as a nominee she shouldn't have been put in, and as a result, got rather beaten up in the press and elsewhere." -- Judge Robert Bork, failed 1987 Supreme Court nominee "I spoke to Ms. Miers this morning and I wished her well. I look forward to consulting with the President on his third nominee to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, and I hope it is a decision he approaches with the necessary independence from partisan factions." -- Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, Senate Judiciary Committee member"We were not asking for documents regarding attorney-client privilege -- or privileged communications. We were saying 'show us documents of policy issues discussions,' so we could get some framework of her policy views." -- Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, Senate Judiciary Committee member"I call on the president to name a nominee in the mainstream of American jurisprudence, who can help bring this nation together and demonstrate a scrupulous knowledge of the law and a judicial temperament that enables support by both sides of the political aisle." -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, Senate Judiciary Committee member"Caught up in a wave of scandal and concerns about the war in Iraq, the president has allowed right-wing interest groups to decide the fate of his Supreme Court nominee rather than stand up to his ultraconservative base. It's a telling statement about the instability and ideological confusion facing the White House and the Republican Party." -- Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts "I hope that the president honors the Constitution's mandate and seeks the advice and consent of the Senate as he considers his next nominee to serve on the Supreme Court. Whomever he chooses must be a guardian of the rule of law who puts fairness and justice before ideology." -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York "I'm afraid Harriet Miers' nomination indicates that you can pick a fight in this city without trying to. No matter who the president nominates, it's clear to me that it will be a highly contentious and difficult process. And as I said, there's a hard number of senators who will vote against the confirmation of any person that's nominated." -- Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Senate Judiciary Committee member"Why is it so difficult to ask the president of the United States to follow that example of President Ronald Reagan [who nominated Justice O'Connor] and nominate someone that will have unanimous support and eventually have the support of all Americans and the respect and love of all Americans? I think the American people are entitled to it." -- Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, Senate Judiciary Committee member
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