Two days after President Bush announced Harriet Miers's Supreme Court
nomination, James Dobson of Focus on the Family raised some eyebrows by
declaring on his radio program: "When you know some of the things that I
know--that I probably shouldn't know--you will understand why I have said, with
fear and trepidation, that I believe Harriet Miers will be a good justice."

Mr. Dobson quelled the controversy by saying that Karl Rove, the White
House's deputy chief of staff, had not given him assurances about how a Justice
Miers would vote. "I would have loved to have known how Harriet Miers views Roe
v. Wade," Mr. Dobson said last week. "But even if Karl had known the answer to
that--and I'm certain that he didn't because the president himself said he
didn't know--Karl would not have told me that. That's the most incendiary
information that's out there, and it was never part of our discussion."

It might, however, have been part of another discussion. On Oct. 3,
the day the Miers nomination was announced, Mr. Dobson and other religious
conservatives held a conference call to discuss the nomination. One of the
people on the call took extensive notes, which I have obtained. According to the
notes, two of Ms. Miers's close friends--both sitting judges--said during the
call that she would vote to overturn Roe.

The call was moderated by the
Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association. Participating were 13
members of the executive committee of the Arlington Group, an umbrella alliance
of 60 religious conservative groups, including Gary Bauer of American Values,
Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, Tony Perkins of the Family
Research Council, Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation and the Rev. Bill
Owens, a black minister. Also on the call were Justice Nathan Hecht of the Texas
Supreme Court and Judge Ed Kinkeade, a Dallas-based federal trial judge.

Mr. Dobson says he spoke with Mr. Rove on Sunday, Oct. 2, the day
before President Bush publicly announced the nomination. Mr. Rove assured Mr.
Dobson that Ms. Miers was an evangelical Christian and a strict constructionist,
and said that Justice Hecht, a longtime friend of Ms. Miers who had helped her
join an evangelical church in 1979, could provide background on her. Later that
day, a personal friend of Mr. Dobson's in Texas called him and suggested he
speak with Judge Kinkeade, who has been a friend of Ms. Miers's for decades.

Mr. Dobson says he was surprised the next day to learn that Justice Hecht
and Judge Kinkeade were joining the Arlington Group call. He was asked to
introduce the two of them, which he considered awkward given that he had never
spoken with Justice Hecht and only once to Judge Kinkeade. According to the
notes of the call, Mr. Dobson introduced them by saying, "Karl Rove suggested
that we talk with these gentlemen because they can confirm specific reasons why
Harriet Miers might be a better candidate than some of us think."

What followed, according to the notes, was a free-wheeling discussion about
many topics, including same-sex marriage. Justice Hecht said he had never
discussed that issue with Ms. Miers. Then an unidentified voice asked the two
men, "Based on your personal knowledge of her, if she had the opportunity, do
you believe she would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade?"
"Absolutely," said
Judge Kinkeade.
"I agree with that," said Justice Hecht. "I concur."

Shortly thereafter, according to the notes, Mr. Dobson apologized and
said he had to leave the discussion: "That's all I need to know and I will get
off and make some calls." (When asked about his comments in the notes I have,
Mr. Dobson confirmed some of them and said it was "very possible" he made the
others. He said he did not specifically recall the comments of the two judges on
Roe v. Wade.)

Judge Kinkeade, through his secretary, declined to discuss the matter.
Justice Hecht told me he remembers participating in the call but can't recollect
who invited him or many specifics about it. He said he did tell the group that
Ms. Miers was "pro-life," a characterization he has repeated in public. But he
says that when someone asked him about her stand on overturning Roe v. Wade he
answered, "I don't know." He doesn't recall what Judge Kinkeade said. But
several people who participated in the call confirm that both jurists stated Ms.
Miers would vote to overturn Roe.

The benign interpretation of the comments is that the two judges were
speaking on behalf of themselves, not Ms. Miers or the White House, and they
were therefore offering a prediction, not an assurance, about how she would come
down on Roe v. Wade. But the people I interviewed who were on the call took the
comments as an assurance, and at least one based his support for Ms. Miers on
them.