Federalist #76

By Aziz P. -
To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity. In addition to this, it would be an efficacious source of stability in the administration. ... The possibility of rejection would be a strong motive to care in proposing. ... [The President] would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure.

-- Alexander Hamilton, Tuesday, April 1, 1788


In a nutshell, this is why the nomination of Harriet Miers must be opposed in bipartisan fashion. Literally, for the good of the Republic - as even the partisan right concedes.

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