Harriet Miers and religion (or is that politics?).

The NYT has an article about Harriet Miers and religion on its front page this morning. This is an attempt to gather a lot of information on the subject and to develop ideas about what her religion might say about the sort of Justice she will become if confirmed, but what is most striking is how little one can derive about her actual opinions from any of this.

She became a member of an evangelical church, in 1989, the same year "she took a break from a lucrative law practice and delved into politics with a campaign for the Dallas City Council in 1989, running for a nonpartisan post." She also switched to the Republican Party that year.

In a discussion with her campaign manager in 1989, Ms. Miers said she had been in favor in her younger years of a woman's right to have an abortion, but her views evolved against abortion, influenced largely by her born-again religious beliefs, said Lorlee Bartos, a Democratic campaign consultant in Dallas who managed Ms. Miers's City Council campaign.

"She was someone whose view had shifted, and she explained that to me," Ms. Bartos said.

Is that religion or politics? If I were hot to get a pro-lifer on the Court, I would not be convinced! If she is a pragmatic politician, who made religion part of her persona when she chose to get ahead in Texas politics, what do you think she will do if and when she has the lifetime position on the Court? That depends on how things play out with the set of Justices she joins, what the issues of the day turn out to be, and how the consumers of the Court's work respond. She could very well form a coalition with Justices Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer and win the love of legal academia. There is more glory there than duly contributing her vote to Justices Scalia and Thomas, especially if the new Chief Justice distinguishes himself from them, as I suspect he will.