Since President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court last week, an overwhelming number of prominent conservatives have decried and bemoaned the pick. Many have devoted interviews, newspaper columns and conference calls to slamming Miers' credentials, or lack thereof, and her perceived lack of constitutional knowledge.

Though they may succeed in pressuring her to withdraw or eventually coercing enough conservative Senators to vote against her nomination, it would be a huge mistake for the conservative cause. Miers' lack of a paper trail, conversion to evangelical Christianity and unquestionable loyalty to Mr. Bush are qualities that make her an ideal candidate for a conservative jurist.

While some conservatives such as Pat Buchanan, Robert Bork and Rich Lowry have criticized Miers for her lack of a concrete constitutional philosophy, this ambiguity could certainly aid Miers in her confirmation process. Conservatives had called on Mr. Bush to nominate strict constructionists such as Michael McConnell or Priscilla Owen, due to their public views on abortion, marriage and other highly important social issues.

Yet had Bush had nominated such a jurist with a long laundry list of judicial opinions, Democrats would have begun to prepare for one of the most brutal, nastiest and divisive political battles in the last half century. An absence of judicial writings or philosophy, combined with Mr. Bush's use of executive privilege in guarding Miers' writings as White House counsel, will make her less vulnerable to a highly politicized and damaging attack.

According to Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hect, a longtime friend of Ms. Miers, in 1979 Miers told him that she wanted faith to be a bigger part of her life. Soon after, she converted from Roman Catholicism to evangelical Christianity. Along with this religious transformation came a political one as well. Ms. Miers, who had made monetary contributions to the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates throughout the early 1980s, began to identify more and more with Republicans.

According to Mr. Hect, at around the same time Ms. Miers' converted to evangelical Christianity, her views concerning abortion had dramatically changed from pro-choice to pro-life. Indeed, during the early 1990s, Mr. Hect said he and Ms. Miers' had attended "two or three" anti-abortion fundraising dinners.

In what has become a barometer for the nomination of Supreme Court justices, Ms. Miers' views on abortion should please conservatives across the country. The idea that Ms. Miers could provide the swing vote in a case overturning Roe v. Wade equally frightens pro-choice organizations throughout the nation. Much to the dismay of these organizations, Ms. Miers' faith and moral compass will undoubtedly play a role in her decision-making process when the legality of abortion comes before the Supreme Court again.

According to native Texan Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and friend of Mr. Bush, the two virtues valued above all others in Texas are courage and loyalty.

Mr. Land continued, "If Ms. Miers, also a Texan, were to get on the Court and she were to rule in ways that were contrary to the ways that the president would want her to approach her role as a justice, it would be a deep personal betrayal and would be perceived as such by both him and by her."

Though Mr. Bush claims he has never asked Ms. Miers' her views of abortion or other controversial social issues almost guaranteed to come before the Court, this appears hard to believe. With this pick, Mr. Bush has the chance to drastically change much of the social policy that has been created by the Supreme Court in the last half-century. A pro-life president and evangelical Christian, Mr. Bush surely would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned and left to the states to decide. By nominating Ms. Miers, his formal personal lawyer and confidant for the last 20 years and someone who shares many of his personal values, Mr. Bush almost ensures that his voice will be heard in the nation's highest court. Indeed, the separation of powers becomes exceedingly narrow with the Miers' pick.

Though many of Mr. Bush's detractors believe he lacks the adequate intelligence and competence to be president, his nomination of Ms. Miers to the Supreme Court was a brilliant strategic move. Landmark cases of the last half-century are almost guaranteed to be overturned if Ms. Miers' is confirmed. American politics, it seems, will only get more ugly. I can hardly wait.

Josh Moskowitz ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science and journalism.