XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU OCT 13, 2005 11:32:41 ET XXXXX
HIDDEN TESTIMONY REIGNITES MIERS FIRES
**Exclusive Details**
The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained a copy of sworn testimony given by Supreme
Court nominee Harriet Miers in 1990 in which she said that she "wouldn't
belong to the Federalist Society" - a conservative and libertarian lawyers'
organization - because it was "politically charged."
But Bush's Supreme Court nominee did not include in that category the NAACP
and other liberal groups, the transcript reveals!
Word of the testimony circulated late last week, roiling conservatives and
setting off a scramble among lawyers to obtain the actual testimony. Sources
tell the DRUDGE REPORT that conservatives demanded that the White House and
its allies release copies of the testimony, but their demands were ignored.
A source close to the Bush administration says, "the process requires the
White House to prepare documents to turn over to the Senate Judiciary
Committee and only after the committee has had the courtesy of receiving
them are such docs made public."
MORE
Miers testified in a voting rights lawsuit claiming the Dallas City Council
had too few black and Hispanic members.
The DRUDGE REPORT can now reveal that not only did Harriet Miers testify
that she would not join the "politically charged" Federalist Society -- she
testified that she had joined a liberal organization - the Democratic
Progressive Voters League.
[According to the Handbook of Texas Online
[http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/DD/wed1.html], the
Democratic Progressive Voters League is a Dallas political organization
closely associated with the Democratic Party.]
Miers was also asked whether she considered "the NAACP [to be] in the
category of organizations" that she considered to be "politically charged."
Her answer: "No, I don't."
In 1987, the NAACP launched a campaign to defeat the nomination of Judge
Robert Bork to the Supreme Court; In 1989, the group organized the Silent
March; over 100,000 protested U.S. Supreme Court decisions the group claimed
"reversed many of the gains made against discrimination."
[The Internal Revenue Service has threatened to revoke the NAACP's
tax-exempt status after the civil rights group's chairman, Julian Bond,
condemned Bush administration policies on education, the economy and the war
in Iraq, during a speech last summer.]
MORE
Now presented here for the first time, the testimony.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MS. JULIAN: . . . . .
Q. Ms. Miers, are you a member of any predominantly minority organizations,
such as the NAACP, Black Chamber of Commerce, Urban League or any other
predominantly minority organizations?
A. Women minorities?
Q. Well, maybe predominantly racial and ethnic minorities?
A. No.
Q. . . . . In your capacity as an at-large member do you think being
involved in such organizations might assist you in having a perspective that
- bring a perspective to your job that you don't have?
A. I attend meetings designed to give me that input. However, I have tried
to avoid memberships in organization s that were politically charged with
one viewpoint or the other. For example, I wouldn't belong to the Federalist
Society any more than - I just feel like it's better to not be involved in
organizations that seem to color your view one way or the other for people
who are examining you. I did join the Progressive Voters League here in
Dallas during the campaign as part of the campaign.
Q. Are you active in the PVL now, do you intend to be?
A. No, I am not.
Q. Do you think the NAACP and Black Chamber of Commerce are in the category
of organizations you were talking about?
A. No, I don't. . . . .
Transcript of Trial, Roy Williams et al. v. City of Dallas, No.
CA-3-88-152-R, pages V-46 to V-47 (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Tex. Sept. 11,
1989).
END
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Filed By Matt Drudge
Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
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