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But there were differences too. David Souter, a furious collector of rare books, had the typical Ivy League pedigree thought by some necessary for entrance to the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court. Harriet Miers graduated from a law school in Texas, Southern Methodist University and developed a proficiency with firearms. Also unlike Harriet Miers, Judge Souter didn't know the president. In fact they were only introduced a few days before the nomination. President Bush has had twelve years to become intimately familiar with his nominee's personal views.

Frankly one should be able to look at the differences between these two nominations and better understand why President Bush believes Harriet Miers is an excellent nominee who will bring a fresh, much-needed perspective to the bench while affirming conservative ideals.

George H.W. Bush's nomination of David Souter reinforced a lesson his son as president has learned well: don't quickly bow to political pressure from your political enemies and don't assign important decisions to others when it's your own legacy at stake. President Bush chose Harriet Miers because he knows her skills and talents. As it happens, she's one of President Bush's most trusted advisors. And she too has had time to thoroughly understand his views and expectations of a judge in a way few candidates for the Supreme Court ever can.

Also, unlike the obscure bachelor from New Hampshire, there are plenty of indications of Harriet Mier's tenacity and commitment to a conservative jurisprudence. One of her former partners reminds us that Harriet Miers "is one of those people that the practice of law and all things associated with that really has been her life." Take a look at her fight against the American Bar Association for formally adopting a pro-Roe v. Wade position. Although she ultimately lost, she rightly understood that this endorsement was just another example of how radicals were distorting the law for their own narrow purposes.

In contrast, while Souter had served as a federal judge and as a Supreme Court Justice in New Hampshire before that, his rulings on property rights in Kelo v. Connecticut and gays in Texas v. Lawrence among others proves to all but the unteachable that not all wisdom comes from being a Rhodes Scholar or a Harvard man.

Like Rehnquist, Powell, and White, justices who have served in the last quarter century, Harriet Miers has never been a judge. Yet these judges were able to serve with distinction and arguably they did so because they didn't come from the cloistered halls of academia or the judiciary.

Harriet Miers brings different perspectives to the table and a view like few others because of her varied past experiences. And a real appreciation for diversity should include strengths associated with living in the real world. Concerns like running a business and meeting a payroll, understanding the perspectives of elected officials and the attitude and the outlook of main street Americans is arguably much more important than diversity defined primarily by gender and race.

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