Disasters in the making?

WHEN SHE turned in her responses to a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire on Tuesday, Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers probably didn’t know she was also handing editorial pages -- including this one -- 57 pages of enticing fodder.

The New York Times today doubts Miers can even “satisfactorily fill out a questionnaire,” let alone sit on the Supreme Court. Its editorial calls her response to a question on judicial activism a “model of windy obfuscation.” Top Judiciary Committee members asked Miers to give the questionnaire another try, giving her the distinction, the Times says, of being “the most important judicial nominee in history to be offered what amounts to a do-over on a take-home quiz.”

The Wall Street Journal today comes to the defense of the gun industry. It’s editorial is mostly a victory dance, as it points out that a House of Representatives bill that would block most gun liability lawsuits has 257 co-sponsors but needs only 218 votes to pass. The Journal says liberals have turned to the courts because introducing more gun control legislation in Congress is “a political loser.” But polls consistently show a majority of the public wants more controls on guns; perhaps it’s a better reflection of how good the gun-rights lobby is.

Elsewhere, in the South, where yet another Storm of the Century -- Hurricane Wilma -- could pummel the region in a few days, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today tells the Bush administration to stop shrugging off “mounting scientific evidence” that weather extremes and increasing ocean temperatures are “mere coincidence.”

Paul Thornton