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President Bush is defending his choice of White House Counsel Harriet Miers to be the next Supreme Court justice.
Her nomination this past week was criticized by some in the president's Republican Party, who question the former-Democratic lawyer's conservative credentials.
Ms. Miers has never been a judge, and has spent most of her career in corporatelitigation. She does not have a wide collection of legal opinions on Constitutional issues indicating where she stands on politically-divisive social topics, including abortion.
In his weekly radio address, President Bush tried to reassure conservatives that Ms. Miers understands the restrained and modest role of judges to interpret laws as written, not as he or she might wish they were written.
"I chose Harriet Miers for the Court both because of her accomplishments, and because I know her character and her judicial philosophy," said President Bush. "Harriet Miers will be the type of judge I said I would nominate: a good conservative judge. She shares my belief that judges should strictly interpret the Constitution and laws, not legislate from the bench."
President Bush says her work as White House counsel has involved complex matters of constitutional law, serving as the chief legal advisor during regular meetings of the National Security Council and handling sensitive issues of relations between the White House and Congress.
While some Republican senators have expressed concerns about Ms. Miers, none has yet vowed to vote against her. Once senators get to know her and her views, President Bush says, she will be confirmed.
"When she goes before the Senate, I am confident that all Americans will see what I see every day: Harriet Miers is a woman of intelligence, strength and conviction," he said. "And when she is confirmed by the Senate, I am confident that she will leave a lasting mark on the Supreme Court, and will be a justice who makes all Americans proud."
In the Democratic radio address, Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro criticized the Bush administration for failing to act on more than 7,000 complaints of petroleum price gouging after Hurricane Katrina damaged refineries along the Gulf Coast.
She says Republicans have given huge tax breaks to oil and gas companies, while rolling back environmental laws unrelated to record high gas prices.
"Americans deserve to know why oil company profits continue to skyrocket, as families and small businesses suffer from high gas prices," said Rosa DeLauro.
Congresswoman DeLauro says Democrats want the government to do more to encourage hybrid vehicles, increase fuel efficiencies and invest in hydrogen fuel cell technology.
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