Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 6 October 2005 — Page 2

Page 2 • The Muncie Times • October 6, 2005

EDITORIAL Supreme Court nominee faces challenges, opportunities

In a surprise movie Monday, President George W. Bush plucked Harriet E. Miersfrom the bowels of security to the incandescence of media stardom when he nominated to fill the U.S. Supreme court seat being vacated by long-serving Sandra Day O'Connor. In one swift move, Bush confounded pundits and others who had drawn up list of possible nominees for the nation's highest court. The announcement was especially surprising because Miers, White House counsel, has no previous judicial experi-

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ence. She had never been a judge. Thus it will be more difficult to mobilize opposition to her. She has not left any footprints. There is no paper trail that could be analyzed and parsed to try and determine what kind of justice she will be. But is she ready for prime time? Bush seems to think so. By choosing a woman, he maintains the court's gender balance. But he also disappoints those who thought it was time to place a Hispanic on the court, giving official recognition to the emergence of Hispanics as

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the country's fastest growing racial minority. On paper, she seems to have the requisite qualifications to become a judge. Only time will tell how well she will do on the court, if confirmed, and whether she will be able to fill O'Connor's shoes as a judicial maverick or sometime moderate, rather than a judicial ideologue. In 1972, Miers became the first woman hired at Dallas's Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely. Twenty-four years later, her colleagues elected her the first woman president

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of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell, at that time a firm of about 200 lawyers. She became the first woman to lead a Texas firm of that size. Locke, Purnell eventually merged with a Houston firm and became Locke Liddell & Sapp, LLP, where Miers became comanaging partner of an over-400-lawyer firm. Throughout her career, she has been very active in the legal community and has blazed a trail for other women to follow. She was the first woman president of the Dallas Bar Association and, laterpresident of the State Bar of Texas. We hope the U.S. Senate will be conscientious in its advice and consent role as it examines Miers' suitability for the Supreme Court. William Bennett should apologize to blacks for slur Former U. S. Education Secretary William J. Bennett owes African Americans and, indeed, the whole an apology for his reprehensible, disgusting and morally repugnant views that aborting African American babies would reduce the U.S. crime rate. Bennett has made millions of dollars as a radio talk show host, author and by pretending

to be the conscience of the nation. He has even written a book on values. His moral reputation was dented last year when it emerged that he had made and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in casino gambling, something that hardly adds luster to his reputation. Bennett recently many people with his statement about aborting black babies, even with his corollary statement that such an idea would be unacceptable. The fact that he would think about aborting black babies and voice such an immoral thought is a cause for concern. If someone in Bennett's position can say something this frightening, what message does it convey to others? Does it not say that to some people, genocide might be an idea worth considering all in the name of trying to stop crime? If black crime disappeared would crime also disappear in the United States? It is reprehensible that there are still some people, including those who call radio stations, who normally oppose abortion but seem to countenance the idea of aborting innocent black babies all under the guise of trying to reduce crime. That is disgusting. William J. Bennett ought to be ashamed.

Publisher Bea Moten-Foster Editor John Lambkun Advertising Bea Moten-Foster Layout/iypesetting Adrian Barrett Contributors: T.S. Kumbula, Maurice EL-Taylor, Nicole Johnson, Hurley C. Goodall, Bernice Powell Jackson, and Marc H. Modal Administrative Assistant Belinda Castelow The Muncie Times is published twice monthly at 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, IN 47303. It covers the communities of Anderson, Marion, New Castle, Richmond, and Muncie. All editorial correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, The Muncie Times, 1304 N. Broadway, Muncie, IN 47303. Telephone (765) 741-0037. Fax (765) 741-0040.

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