Banal, But Not Stupid
Over on Volokh Conspiracy Jim Lindgren wonders whether Harriet Miers really writes as badly as excerpts in Time suggest. The answer is no.
At the SMU library I got an original of her 1992 Texas Lawyer article. The worst writing quoted in Time-- "freedom of liberties," for instance--in fact reflects Nexis typos. (Miers wrote "freedom of religion," in that case.) The prose is indeed clunky, however, and the article is banal in that well-known corporate way, where you make an argument--her main point is that the courts need more money--without any sharp points.
To see for yourself, download my .pdf scan of the piece, minus the headline, which wouldn't fit on the microfiche reader's copy space.