Harriet Miers' 25 days as a Supreme Court nominee

Harriet Miers' 25 days as a Supreme Court nominee

Oct. 3: President Bush announces that Miers, his White House counsel, is his choice to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Conservative critics immediately question the selection. Two longtime Miers friends tell conservatives on a conference call they believe she would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established abortion rights.

Oct. 4: Bush defends Miers in a Rose Garden news conference, saying "I know her heart."

Oct. 5: First Miers television ad released by Progress for America Voter Fund, saying, "Harriet Miers deserves a fair up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate." Focus on The Family's James Dobson says, "When you know some of the things that I know — that I probably shouldn't know — you will understand why I have said, with fear and trepidation, that Harriet Miers will be a good justice."

Oct. 6: White House announces former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., will serve as Miers' escort through the confirmation process.

Oct. 7: Bush predicts Miers will be confirmed despite continued grumbling from conservatives.

Oct 12: Dobson says he talked with Bush adviser Karl Rove on Oct. 1 about Miers' pending nomination. Dobson says Rove told him "she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life," but denies he had gotten any assurances on Roe v. Wade. Bush says White House aides are telling conservatives about Miers' religion because "part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion." Judiciary Committee sends Miers 12-page questionnaire.

Oct. 13: White House insists Miers will not withdraw. "No one that knows her would make such a suggestion," spokesman Scott McClellan says.

Oct. 17: Miers meets with Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who says she supports two legal precursors to Roe v. Wade and sees a right to privacy in the Constitution. Coats says Specter is mistaken. A spokesman for the senator says Specter "accepts Ms. Miers' statement that he misunderstood what she said."

Oct. 18: Miers gives Senate a 1989 Texans United for Life questionnaire in which she pledged support for a constitutional amendment banning abortion except to save the life of the mother.

Oct. 19: Judiciary Committee schedules confirmation hearings for Nov. 7. Specter and top committee Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont criticize Miers' answers to committee questionnaire, calling them "incomplete" and "insufficient." They send her second questionnaire and set Oct. 26 deadline.

Oct. 20: Conservatives in a private conference call suggest to White House surrogates that Miers should stop visiting senators and concentrate on preparing for her confirmation hearing.

Oct. 21: White House says Miers will not cut short visits.

Oct. 24: Bush says he will not release any documents relating to advice from Miers that could threaten the confidentiality of deliberations that presidents get from their lawyers. Specter sends Miers letter telling her she will be questioned about her independence from Bush and on White House deliberations on war on terrorism.

Oct. 25: Conservative group Americans United for Better Justice announces plans for a TV ad calling for Bush to withdraw nomination.

Oct. 26: Miers' 1993 speech is released in which she talks about the legal battles over abortion, what can be taught in schools and religion in schools. "The more I think about these issues, the more self-determination makes the most sense," she said.

Miers asks President Bush to withdraw her nomination at 8:30 p.m. EDT, and sends Judiciary Committee answers to second questionnaire before midnight.

Oct. 27: White House announces Miers' withdrawal as Supreme Court nominee and says a replacement will be announced quickly.

The Associated Press