Harriet Miers should be commended for withdrawing her name from consideration. And the President should be praised for understanding that he has done the right thing in "reluctantly" accepting her nomination. In the long run, this misstep by the White House will not be remembered (does anyone remember that Reagan nominated Ginsburg to the high court, and then withdrew his name?). Here is the official White House statement on Miers by President Bush. This is Miers’s letter (PDF file) to the President. The reason offered for her withdrawal was scripted a few days ago by Charles Krauthammer (i.e., executive privilege on her paperwork), but the real reason, of course, is that she was losing everyone’s support, as I explained here, four days ago. Some conservatives are worried that Bush will now nominate Gonzales. This will not happen because he would have the same problems with the executive privilege issue over confidential papers with Gonzales that he said he did with Miers. Bush is likely to go with a known conservative, at least in part because he fears losing his base. I am hoping that he will look carefully at Alice Batchelder, again.

Joe Knippenberg wrote this on Harriet Miers last night, just hours before she withdrew. Joe was not pleased with a speech she gave twelve years ago. He called it "muddled and imprecise," unworthy of a good lawyer. I am betting that Joe is not displeased that she backed off.