MORE CRUMBLING

Conservatives Escalate Opposition to Miers
Web Sites and Ad Campaign Seek Nominee's Withdrawal

By Michael A. Fletcher and Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Page A02

Conservative activists intensified their opposition to the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers yesterday, launching two Web sites and planning radio and television advertising aimed at forcing her withdrawal.

"We've had three weeks here to try to sort out what kind of judge she is going to be," said Brian Burch, vice president of Fidelis, a Catholic antiabortion organization urging Miers's withdrawal. "We really do want to support the administration, but we just feel like we've reached a situation with this nomination that is beyond repair."

While right-leaning columnists and publications, including George Will and the National Review, have called for her withdrawal, the new efforts are the first direct attempts at turning grass-roots conservatives against Miers.

A coalition of conservative groups that includes the Eagle Forum, the Center for a Just Society and ConservativeHQ, have launched WithdrawMiers.org, as part of its effort to force Miers out.

Conservative stalwarts David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter, and Linda Chavez, meanwhile, are among those supporting BetterJustice.com, another site seeking Miers's withdrawal. The group also has promised to launch radio and television ads to support their call.

"The sense is that she is not well versed in constitutional law. It is not to say she is not a good lawyer, a smart woman or had good careers," said Chavez, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, which opposes race-conscious affirmative action programs. "But she is not someone who has spent time in the world of ideas."

Mark Smith, vice president of the New York chapter of the Federalist Society, who attended the Roberts swearing-in at the White House just last month, said Miers does not even deserve hearings. "If Miss Miers were truly a conservative, she would withdraw her nomination," he said. It is "certainly harming the Republican Party and the conservative movement," and she should pull out "if for no other reason than the good of the cause."