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President Bush picked Harriet Miers yesterday to be his nominee for the Supreme Court seat that will become vacant with departure of Sandra Day O'Connor. The nomination of Ms. Miers once again confirms Bush's strong predilection for people who have shown him strong personal loyalty. A choice of someone without judicial experience also speaks of desire to have an expedient confirmation process. Bush doesn't seem to have an appetite for a long drown-out battle. The initial positive reaction from both parties seems to point to a fairly straightforward confirmation in the Senate.

Personally, I would have liked to see someone with a bit stronger legal credentials. However, Ms. Miers strikes me as a person who would be putting the law first, and not making herself the center of attention. In other word, a "humble judge who will strictly interpret the Constitution".

There are also interesting parallels between Ms. Miers nomination and Bush's erstwhile choice of Dick Cheney for his running mate. As a White House legal counsel, Ms. Miers was in charge of screening potential candidates. In the end she did the job so well that she herself got the nod. The same thing happened to Cheney in 2000. He was screening potential VPs for Bush, and ended up holding the job himself.