WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham says South Carolina
can give President Bush the woman he wants to nominate to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
She is Karen Williams of Orangeburg, a judge with 13 years on the
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — just one step down from the
highest court in the land.
“I’m enthusiastically advocating her selection,” said Graham, a
Republican from Seneca. “I told the White House she would be a great
nominee. She’s a good conservative, and she’s confirmable.”
Court observers say it’s unlikely.
Bush is expected to nominate a replacement for retiring Supreme
Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor shortly after the Senate’s
expected confirmation of John Roberts to the court, scheduled for
today.
Williams, a former Lexington and Orangeburg County school
teacher, has caught the White House’s attention.
Known as one of the most conservative judges on the most
conservative federal appeals court in the nation, Williams has had
her resume and judicial history pored over by Bush advisers.
Her appeal? She’s a former trial lawyer and experienced judge
whose conservative ideology meshes with the president’s.
At 54, she could enjoy a long a tenure on the court.
And her confirmation would keep two women on the nine-member high
court.
But legal scholars don’t expect Williams has made the jump from
Bush’s long list to the short list of potential nominees.
“Unlikely,” said David Mann, a political science professor at the
College of Charleston who studies the judiciary.
“I’d be very surprised,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at
George Washington University often called upon to handicap Supreme
Court nominees.
They point to obstacles in Williams’ resume — problematic
decisions and a scholarly reputation that falls short of her
competition.
One such decision involved perhaps the most well-known of legal
cases, “Miranda.” The 1966 Miranda case outlines the rights that
must be read to a suspect in custody before an interrogation. (“You
have the right to remain silent, etc.”)
In 1999, Williams wrote the 4th Circuit opinion that would have
paved the way for Miranda to be overturned. But the Supreme Court
voted 7-2, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist writing the opinion,
that Miranda would stand.
“Miranda has become embedded in routine police practice to the
point where the warnings have become part of our national culture,”
Rehnquist wrote.
He criticized the 4th Circuit for failing to respect precedent,
or the rule of “stare decisis” — a legal concept for which judicial
nominees typically strive to show respect.
“Were she the nominee, you know that case would come up, and I
don’t think it would play out positively,” Mann said.
Then there is Williams’ reputation as a legal scholar.
She is rarely held up as a great legal mind, said Turley. But
other 4th Circuit justices whose names have been mentioned as
nominees — Harvie Wilkinson and J. Michael Luttig — are known for
their brilliant legal opinions.
“It’s a stark comparison to her, and that comparison would not
assist her,” said Turley. “It would raise questions as to whether
she was chosen just because she is a woman.”
There are also those who point to comments Williams has made —
verbally and in opinions — that have been considered callous, and
that these could haunt her in a confirmation hearing.
In an opinion overturning a jury verdict for a woman who had won
a sexual harassment suit against a Chapin company, Williams said the
law against sexual harassment in the workplace is not a
“neo-Victorian chivalry code designed to protect” the “tender
sensitivities of contemporary women.”
And early in her judicial career she joked one reason she was
appointed was because her driver’s license misidentified her race.
“Not only was I a female, but they had me as a black female.”
A man who identified himself as Williams’ legal clerk said she
would not be available to comment for this story.
Williams does have fans beyond Graham.
Former U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., spoke more than warmly
at her 1992 swearing-in on the 4th Circuit.
“I know of no one, man or woman, who has come to the federal
court with a greater breadth of experience,” he said.
William Wilkins of Greenville, chief justice of the 4th Circuit
and himself once mentioned for an open spot on the Supreme Court,
said Williams possesses an outstanding judicial mind and
temperament, and would be an excellent choice.
“I’d hate to lose her as a colleague; she’s a delight to work
with,” Wilkins said. “But it would serve our country well.”
Reach Markoe at (202) 383-6023 or lmarkoe@krwashington.com.
