The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. On the NewsHour tonight, the news of this Monday, including full coverage of President Bush's choice of Harriet Miers for the U.S. Supreme Court, with the reactions of Senators Cornyn and Schumer; then, Jan Crawford Greenburg's account of the first day in the life of the John Roberts Supreme Court; a report on the Bali terrorist bombing that killed at least 19 people; and a tribute to playwright August Wilson, who died yesterday.

NEWS SUMMARY

JIM LEHRER: President Bush nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court today. If she's confirmed by the Senate, she'll take the place of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who's retiring. Miers was a prominent lawyer in Texas for years, but never a judge. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican Arlen Specter, took note of that today.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER: Many of us have called for a nominee who comes from a background of one other than being a jurist, and now we have a person who is like that. Got to go to America to find lawyers and Dallas is as good a place as any to find lawyers. And there's no obligation on a person to have a paper trail.

JIM LEHRER: The committee's ranking Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said Miers' close ties to the president raise questions that need answers.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: I have no problem with her being an advocate for the president in the White House, but in the Supreme Court you have to have fairness and you have to have independence. And that has to be the hallmark of anybody in the Supreme Court; they have to be able to demonstrate that to me to have my vote.

JIM LEHRER: Also today, John Roberts was formally installed as chief justice. It coincided with the first day of the court's fall term. His first hot-button case comes on Wednesday on doctor-assisted suicide in Oregon. We'll have more on all of the day's Supreme Court stories right after this News Summary. U.S. warplanes launched air strikes in western Iraq today in a new offensive against al-Qaida fighters. The operation began Saturday near the Syrian border. The U.S. military said at least 36 suspected militants have been killed so far. The military rejected al-Qaida's claims that it captured and killed two U.S. Marines. Americans did announce a U.S. soldier died Saturday after being wounded in Ramadi. Iraqi Sunnis complained today about election rules for the draft constitution. On Sunday, Shiites and Kurds in parliament made it harder to veto the charter. It will now take two-thirds of the registered voters in at least three provinces. The Sunnis say the interim constitution intended it to be two-thirds of those actually voting. The referendum is on Oct. 15. In Bali, Indonesia, today, police released grisly photographs of the heads of three suicide bombers, hoping to identify the men. They killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 100 others late Saturday. Police said accomplices may still be hiding on the resort island. There was no claim of responsibility. But the attacks came three years after a group linked to al-Qaida killed more than 200 people in nightclub bombings on Bali. We'll have more on this story later in the program. The European Union formally agreed today to open membership talks with Turkey. That came after Austria dropped its opposition to full membership for the Turks. We have a report narrated by Lindsey Hilsum of Independent Television News.

LINDSEY HILSUM: A testing day for Britain's EU presidency. The foreign secretary met his Austrian counterpart seven times overnight and all morning. It took that and a phone call from the U.S. Secretary of State before the Austrians caved in. They're nervous about 17 million Muslim Turks becoming EU citizens even though it will be at least ten years before Turkey joins. The Turkish prime minister said that the EU can't improve relations with the Muslim world unless it admits Turkey to the club.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Prime Minister, Turkey (Translated): I'm stating this as fact, not as bluff. If the EU wants to be a global force and wants to prevent a clash of civilizations, it's necessary to create an alliance of civilizations. The forces which don't want Turkey to be a member of the EU are the ones who oppose this alliance.

LINDSEY HILSUM: Turkey is the geographic bridge between East and West. A diplomat who attended last night's EU dinner said European ministers believe that Turkey's EU accession is a key strategic issue. These days Istanbul looks like a European city only by engaging Turkey a progressive Muslim country do the ministers think they can deal with other Muslim countries especially in North Africa. Turkey in Europe, no. Flemish nationalists demonstrating in Brussels this morning agreeing with the Austrian position. Polls suggest that many Europeans have doubts about admitting Turkey. European ministers who failed to sell the European constitution to their voters now have to sell Turkey's accession.

JIM LEHRER: The Turkish prime minister called the agreement an "historic point." Armed Palestinian police stormed the Palestinian parliament in Gaza today. About 40 police officers fired shots in the air. They demanded a crackdown on Hamas militants now that Israeli forces have withdrawn. On Sunday night, Hamas gunmen attacked a police station in Gaza. Three people were killed, including a police commander. Investigators searched for answers today in a tour boat disaster in upper New York State. Twenty people were killed Sunday when their tour boat capsized on Lake George. All were senior citizens from Michigan on a week-long tour. Today, one of the survivors told of her escape.

JEANE SILER: I noticed the cabin floor was getting wet. And why, I don't know but I stood up. And I don't know if I jumped out of the boat or if I was thrown from the boat when it tipped. There were a number of boats that came out to help us; they threw life preservers and ropes, whatever they had at hand to help us get out of the water.

JIM LEHRER: The captain reported the vessel was hit by another boat's wake, but the head of the National Transportation Safety Board said it's much too early to pinpoint a cause. Another sign of progress in New Orleans today: A Catholic school reopened in the Algiers neighborhood for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. Parochial schools in neighboring parishes were reopening as well. Some public schools in the city may start up again by November. The Nobel Prize in medicine went to two Australians today. Robin Warren shared the prize with Barry Marshall. In 1982, they showed a bacterial infection-- and not stress-- causes most stomach ulcers. It took ten years for the discovery to gain general acceptance. Ultimately, it led to using antibiotics and other medicines to cure peptic ulcer disease. On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 33 points to close at 10,535. The NASDAQ rose more than three points to close at 2155. Playwright August Wilson died Sunday at a hospital in Seattle. He had liver cancer. Wilson was celebrated for his ten-play cycle depicting the black American experience across the 20th century. In 1987, he won the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for "Fences." In 1990, he won the Pulitzer again for "The Piano Lesson." August Wilson was 60 years old. We'll have more on his life and work at the end of tonight's program. Between now and then, the Miers nomination; opening day for Chief Justice Roberts; and the Bali bombing.

FOCUS SUPREME CHOICE

JIM LEHRER: The president chooses one of his own lawyers, Harriet Miers, to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. Kwame Holman begins our coverage.

KWAME HOLMAN: During his Oval Office announcement this morning, President Bush described White House counsel Harriet Miers as exceptionally well suited to sit on the high court.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: She has devoted her life to the rule of law and the cause of justice.

KWAME HOLMAN: Citing her three decades as a private attorney in Texas, the president called Miers a pioneer and an appropriate replacement for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Harriet was the first woman to be hired at one of Dallas's top firms, the first woman to become president of that firm, the first woman to lead a large law firm in the state of Texas. Harriet also became the first woman president of the Dallas Bar Association and the first woman elected president of the state bar of Texas.

KWAME HOLMAN: The president acknowledged that Miers never served as a judge, but cited two prominent former justices who also had no previous experience on the bench.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I've come to agree with the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who wrote about the importance of having judges who are drawn from a wide diversity of professional background. Justice Rehnquist himself came to the Supreme Court without prior experience on the bench, as did more than 35 other men, including Byron White.

KWAME HOLMAN: If confirmed, the 60-year-old Miers would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the court, and become only the third woman to have served there.

HARRIET MIERS: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much. I am very grateful for the confidence in me that you've shown by this nomination, and certainly I am humbled by it. It is the responsibility of every generation to be true to the founders' vision of the proper role of the courts in our society. If confirmed, I recognize that I will have a tremendous responsibility to keep our judicial system strong and to help ensure that the courts meet their obligation to strictly apply the law and the Constitution. As White House counsel, I have enjoyed the opportunity to work with the members of the Congress, and that experience has given me an even greater appreciation for the role of the legislative branch in our constitutional system. And now I look forward to the next step in the process that has begun this morning, including the Senate's consideration of my nomination.

KWAME HOLMAN: Shortly thereafter, Harriet Miers was greeted on Capitol Hill by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER: Congratulations.

KWAME HOLMAN: She spent much of the day making courtesy calls to senators who will vote on her nomination. Chairman Specter described what he expected in the upcoming confirmation hearings.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER: There needs to be, obviously, a very thorough inquiry into her background as a lawyer and her activities-- people who will know her on the issues of character and integrity, which we will find out.

KWAME HOLMAN: As for Senate Democrats, their Leader Harry Reid said he was pleased with the president's choice of Miers, someone he previously had asked the president to consider.

SEN. HARRY REID: I have to say without any qualification that I'm very happy we have someone like her.

KWAME HOLMAN: But California's Dianne Feinstein said it's difficult to make a judgment about Miers when so little is known about her.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN: She has never been a judge, as you know, so there's no judicial record.

KWAME HOLMAN: Senate Leader Frist said he would press for confirmation by Thanksgiving. That would give lawmakers fewer than eight weeks to review her record, hold hearings, and vote.

JIM LEHRER: And to Gwen Ifill.

GWEN IFILL: So, who is Harriet Miers? For more background on the president's Supreme Court nominee we turn to Susan Karamanian, associate dean at George Washington University Law School; she worked with Ms. Miers in Dallas for 14 years at the Locke, Liddell and Sapp law firm; and David Jackson, White House correspondent for the Dallas Morning News; he's covered Ms. Miers since 1989 when she was elected to the Dallas City Council.

David Jackson who is Harriet Miers, tell us what you can tell us about her.

DAVID JACKSON: She is your basic high-powered corporate attorney from Dallas, Texas, which prizes corporate attorneys, and back in '89 she was generally considered the business establishment's candidate for the city council; back in the days when we had at-large city council members she was elected city wide.

GWEN IFILL: So how did she get from there to here?

DAVID JACKSON: Well, it is interesting to note. I was reviewing my notes and one of the issues during her term was whether Dallas should try to attack the Texas Rangers baseball team and the lead negotiator for the Rangers baseball team was a young man named George W. Bush. Now, I assume -- I know their paths crossed back then but also Mr. Bush had just moved to Dallas and when you go looking for a lawyer, Harriet Miers is one of the names that comes up so it is not surprising that he wound up seeking legal advice from her down the line.

GWEN IFILL: Susan Karamanian, you worked with her for many years; how would you describe her?

SUSAN KARAMANIAN: I would describe Harriet as smart, hardworking, thorough, fair and caring. All those attributes I associate when I think of Harriet Miers.

GWEN IFILL: How do those attributes translate into a Supreme Court nomination?

SUSAN KARAMANIAN: Well, obviously for a Supreme Court justice you want somebody who can grasp facts, look at records, understand the law. Harriet has done that her entire career. She has the ability to size up situations and to be fair. And I think we want justices who are going to be true to the law, who understand the legal process, who have a degree of sophistication, so to speak, in working through difficult problems, and bring a fair mind to the process. I think this is a wonderful appointment.

GWEN IFILL: When you worked with her in Texas, what was -- what marked her? What defined her? I notice there were some writings about her involvement in pro bono work, for instance.

SUSAN KARAMANIAN: Harriet early on when I first met her what defined her was first, here was a woman who had, through her own initiative and hard work made it easier for me to come along ten, fifteen years after the fact, and work in a major law firm as a woman, and not be concerned about issues. But secondly, Harriet was always concerned about outreach to the community, to being a professional in the sense of caring about your community, and that meant the disenfranchised, or those who are poor, who cannot afford a lawyer. Very early on she took me to a pro bono dinner and I was very interested in pro bono but it was very clear that after that dinner, we sat down and talked, and she said this is the beauty of being a lawyer, is being able to serve those in need.

GWEN IFILL: David Jackson when you first covered her she was an elected official. She had only served on the city council for a couple of years. But over the -- you describe her as more of a corporate lawyer. Over the years has she betrayed any kind of political inclinations?

DAVID JACKSON: No, not at all. In fact, the one thing -- there is not a lot of difference between her then and now. She was tight-lipped and kept her own counsel. I think there are people who have known here quite some time who have no idea what her real political views are, so these confirmation hearings are going to be quite illuminating for many people.

GWEN IFILL: Well, you've covered her at the White House since she was the staff secretary and she served the president as deputy chief of staff I believe, and most recently, of course, as White House counsel. How has she functioned in that environment, that West Wing environment?

DAVID JACKSON: The same way. You know, this White House prides itself on being quiet and she is maybe the most quiet official in there. You just can't get her to say anybody about anything, except for the fact she thinks President Bush is doing a terrific job. But she is not very talkative.

GWEN IFILL: So there are no clues that people who will be involving themselves in this confirmation process can turn to, and paper trail within the White House they can say she advocated for this or that?

DAVID JACKSON: Even one of her friends called her sphinx like to me. So it's very hard to say. Now, she gave money to Al Gore; that's going to raise some hackles, but President Bush and Vice President Cheney went on a conservative talk show today to testify to her conservative bona fides. But there is a lot of mystery here.

GWEN IFILL: We should be clear. She gave money to Al Gore in 1988

DAVID JACKSON: Right.

GWEN IFILL: -- not when he ran against President Bush -- current President Bush. Let's talk a little bit about judicial philosophy. Is there any way that you can help us explain what Harriet Miers' judicial philosophy might be, Susan Karamanian?

SUSAN KARAMANIAN: Well, Harriet is, as was just indicated, she has been active in the legal community in working on real cases for many years. And I think she is going to be committed like all lawyers to understanding the facts of the situation, and then to establishing what the law -- what the law is in doing a thorough review of that law, and making sure then she can properly apply the law to the case. I mean that is how we are trained as lawyers. And as lawyers I would see her day in and out. That is what she did as a lawyer.

GWEN IFILL: Well, does that make her more of a Sandra Day O'Connor type, more of a John Roberts type is there any guidance that you can give us on that?

SUSAN KARAMANIAN: I don't like to put anybody in that kind of a box. What I can say is that she is doing what an excellent lawyer should do and has done. And that is how, I think, she should be seen as a lawyer's lawyer -- just like some of the other candidates like John Roberts, somebody who has been in the trenches, so to speak, working very hard on cases. But she has a little extra dimension. She has had this public side such as serving on the Dallas City Council or being the state bar president, and making enormous commitments to issues regarding the legal profession in general through her work in the American Bar Association.

GWEN IFILL: David Jackson, in the ten hours since the president nominated her, it has already become lore that she sometimes gets to work at 4:30 in the morning and leaves at 10 o'clock at night. How -- clearly there are some workaholic tendencies there, perhaps. How close is she to the president himself?

DAVID JACKSON: Very close. I think David Frum on his blog said she once told him that --

GWEN IFILL: David Frum, the conservative columnist.

DAVID JACKSON: And a former speechwriter for the White House.

GWEN IFILL: And a former White House speechwriter.

DAVID JACKSON: Said Ms. Miers told him she thought President Bush was the smartest man she'd ever knew. She is very loyal to him. She reminds me a little bit of a legal version of Karen Hughes. She is very loyal to the president and thinks he is absolutely a great leader.

GWEN IFILL: The other part of the lore is that the president described her famously as a pit bull in Size 6 shoes. What is the pit bull part? I keep hearing how diligent, how she much cares for the poor, all these other giving, wonderful things, but there is a tough side?

DAVID JACKSON: Very much so, she is a corporate lawyer and she did legal work. And that is not for the squeamish. I'm told behind closed door she is very tough. I remember back during the city council had a big beef over redistricting and I'm told she was very tough behind closed doors and stood her ground well.

GWEN IFILL: Tell me about that, Susan Karamanian. What does tough mean?

SUSAN KARAMANIAN: It means

GWEN IFILL: Any examples?

SUSAN KARAMANIAN: Harriet can be firm. And she can be firm with me. She was always five steps ahead of me. And she sometimes would say you need to be thinking about this. You need to be thinking about that. She is -- has the highest obligations to her clients, the fiduciary obligation to her client and she takes it very seriously so she can be quite firm.

On the other hand, she knows how to care for people. And so if somebody came to her with needs and they couldn't afford a lawyer, in many instances she would dedicate her time the way she would dedicate it to a company; 100 percent commitment to her client in terms of the obligation that she had.

GWEN IFILL: And is there any way to tell as you try to flesh out what she believes in that she is someone who believes in the strict applicability of the Constitution? Is there any way to gauge where, she doesn't have a client to represent but she is representing the American people on the Supreme Court, where she would come out?

SUSAN KARAMANIAN: Well, you heard her just say on the program preceding this, where she announced her commitment to the Constitution. And she is firmly committed, obviously, to supporting the Constitution of the United States.

GWEN IFILL: David Jackson, any sense of her political leanings? I mean, she gave that $1,000 to Al Gore. She obviously is very close to this president. Where is she in that?

DAVID JACKSON: That is a good question. A big debate back when she was on the council -- whether she was a Democrat or Republican. She used to speak quite favorably of Lloyd Bentsen, who was a Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1988, but I think most people think she is a pretty conservative Republican.

Reviewing my own notes, I remember she came out very four square behind the first Iraq war; that is one of the few national issues I remember her discussing.

GWEN IFILL: And she also, wasn't she also behind the Texas Bar Association's -- an effort to make the Texas Bar Association take itself out of the abortion fight?

DAVID JACKSON: She didn't think the bar -- I think it might have been the American Bar Association

GWEN IFILL: Right.

DAVID JACKSON: -- but she didn't think they should be endorsing or opposing abortion rights but I think she'll tell you that she just felt like the members ought to have a say into whether or not they did that. I don't think she was especially declaring her position on the actual issue itself, she just said members ought to have a vote on it.

GWEN IFILL: Okay. David Jackson of the Dallas Morning News; Susan Karamanian of George Washington University, thank you both very much.

DAVID JACKSON: Thank you.

JIM LEHRER: Now, to Margaret Warner for the Senate's role of advice and consent on the Miers' nomination.

MARGARET WARNER: Harriet Miers' prospects of joining the court rest on the confirmation process about to unfold in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We're joined now by two members of that committee: Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. Welcome to you both, gentlemen.

Senator Schumer, you had urged the president not to appoint a hard line judicial conservative, someone that you consider to be out of the mainstream. Does Harriet Miers fill the bill on that score?

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER: Well, on preliminary indication, yes. But it's too early to say. Of the ten or twelve names bandied about, a large number were very hard right by their past history. Harriet Miers has no past history in terms of judicial philosophy so we don't know. But overall, that's a positive sign because there were only two or three people on that long list the president had that would have the chance to be moderate. She is one of them.

MARGARET WARNER: Sen. Cornyn, there are some conservatives who are very disappointed that she doesn't have a clear judicial record and feel that the president missed an opportunity here to clearly shift the court rightward. What would you say to them to reassure conservatives that, in fact, she is in the mold of the kind of person they wanted?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN: Well, Margaret, 41 out of the 109 justices who served on the court went to that court without judicial experience. But Harriet Miers has a distinguished record as a lawyer in private practice, and in public service that I think qualifies her well for this position.

But, you know, the fact is that no one is entitled to know with precision how a judge is likely to vote on a future case. That's the point that we tried to make with John Roberts. That's the Ginsburg standard we talk so much about. And now I think we will have a good confirmation process, one that I hope is -- reflects the dignity and civility with which the Roberts process went forward.

But I don't know how anyone could expect to know before the case is even put to the court how a judge is likely to rule. And I think some will not be satisfied with anything less.

MARGARET WARNER: Let me just follow up on that because one conservative group called this quote a betrayal of conservative pro-family voters. And Bill Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, said essentially that President Bush appears to have been intimidated at a time of political weakness from naming a more clear-cut conservative. His exact words were, it is very hard to avoid the conclusion that President Bush flinched from a fight on constitutional philosophy. What do you say to that?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN: Well, I know President Bush and I know he is not easily intimidated. And I know he wasn't in this instance. He has nominated a highly qualified woman who has been a pioneer in her profession and someone I believe who will serve and distinguish herself on the Supreme Court.

But you know those who wanted the president to pick a fight, I think were looking for -- at the wrong person. I mean the president wasn't going to pick a fight just for the sake of picking a fight. She does advocate a judicial philosophy that says judges shouldn't be primarily policy makers from the bench but rather strictly interpret the law and I think she will do that when she's confirmed.

MARGARET WARNER: Sen. Schumer yeah, go ahead.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER: I think the -- I think the president was between a rock and a hard place because his supporters on the hard right want somebody who unlike what John Cornyn says would be overtly agreeing with them.

And yet the president knew if he chose someone like that, most of America wouldn't want it because the hard right philosophy is not where mainstream America is at. And therefore, he had to for the second time choose what you might call a stealth nominee, a nominee whose views we really don't know.

Now I believe it's our obligation to find out their judicial philosophy, ideological viewpoints. And we'll try to do that at the hearing. It is even more important with Harriet Miers than with John Roberts because she has even less of a record than John Miers -- John Roberts, and he didn't have much of a record.

But the fact remains that the hard right wanted the president to pick someone who already had positions. Most of the names on that list would meet their bill. He chose one not. And I think that's a good first step.

MARGARET WARNER: And let me follow up with you, your Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid was quoted today saying I like Harriet Miers and there were reports that he even suggested her in meetings he had -- consultations he had at the White House.

Does that undercut the prospect of Democrats coming out in opposition to this nominee if, in fact, that is where you end up?

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER: Well, let me just say, I don't think that's what Harry -- he said he liked her. But he also said he liked John Roberts and ended up voting against John Roberts. And I've spoken to Leader Reid five or six times today. And clearly what he was showing, what he was betokening was our good feeling that the president didn't choose someone who would automatically would be an ideologue, who automatically, who we had opposed in the past, a Priscilla Owens or a Janice Rogers Brown.

But no one has decided how they are going to vote. And I think from Leader Reid on down to the rank and file almost every Democrat is going to do what we did with John Roberts, wait for the hearings, wait for information to come out and then make our decision. But the point is that the president did not throw down the gauntlet and say here's a fight. And I agree with John Cornyn that was wise of him to do.

MARGARET WARNER: And let me ask you both briefly beginning with you Sen. Cornyn, opponents and people who were disappointed on both sides have also raised the charge of cronyism, the fact she had been his personal lawyer, she has been so closely involved with him throughout his political career, at least certainly here in Washington and in Texas, is that of any concern to you in terms of her judicial independence, if she were to go to the court?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN: Well, the president is not required to pick a political enemy or someone who disagrees with him on judicial philosophy. In fact, the president has a lot of confidence in Harriet Miers as a human being and as a lawyer and has given her a tremendous trust to serve as his White House counsel.

I don't see how that is anything other than admirable and rewarding good performance as a lawyer. So I'm not too worried about those kind of charges. I just don't think they'll withstand scrutiny.

MARGARET WARNER: Sen. Schumer, do they concern you, does that had concern you?

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER: Well, I think what most concerns me, and it has all along with just about every nominee, Supreme Court and others, is the person's judicial philosophy and ideological viewpoint first, and their qualifications second. And we don't know enough about Harriet Miers on the first. And on the second, obviously we're going to want to look carefully at her record. The fact that she knows the president well is clearly not a disqualifier. I'm sure you could look back at the history, I haven't yet, of other Supreme Court nominees and some of them knew the president well and some of them didn't. That to me is a neutral, is a neutral quality.

MARGARET WARNER: Okay, finally, very briefly Sen. Schumer, will Democrats be more aggressive, even more aggressive in trying to get documents from her time in the White House? In other words will you be demanding more than you did for John Roberts?

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER: Well, looking at the big picture, Margaret, we know so little about Harriet Miers, and I think the American public overwhelmingly agrees with us, even a large percentage of Republicans, that the person's judicial philosophy, ideological viewpoints broadly scoped should be known before they go on the bench because this is the only time that we can do that. And so documentation will be important.

But overall, whether it is documentation, answering questions, past history, we can't just vote on a whim and a prayer. We have to really get some idea of who Harriet Miers is, and what kind of judge she will be.

MARGARET WARNER: All right. Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. John Cornyn, thank you both.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN: Thank you.

FOCUS FIRST MONDAY IN OCTOBER

JIM LEHRER: Now that other big Supreme Court story of the day, and to Ray Suarez.

RAY SUAREZ: The first Monday in October is the traditional start of the new Supreme Court session. And today was particularly significant because the court had a new chief justice, John Roberts. NewsHour regular Kan Crawford Greenburg of the Chicago Tribune was in the court and joins us now.

Did the seating of a new chief make this really different from a regular first day of the new court year?

JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG: Oh, completely. Well, first of all there were two different events at the court today. Before the arguments began this morning, before Chief Justice Roberts took control of the court, there was a very formal swearing in ceremony about 9:15, just a little over an hour after President Bush announced he was nominating Harriet Miers. And that was a very formal ceremony. And the courtroom was packed with invited guests, friends, family, dignitaries, senators, judges who served on the D.C.-based federal appeals court bench with then Judge Roberts. And it was a very moving ceremony just freighted with historic meaning.

Roberts came in the courtroom wearing the black robes, and sat in a black leather chair that had been used by the great Chief Justice Marshall centuries ago and he sat there as Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez announced he had the commission. The clerk read the commission in which the president nominated him as chief justice. And then he walked up behind the bench, and stood as Justice John Paul Stevens, the most senior member, formally swore him in as the new chief justice.

RAY SUAREZ: Beyond taking the oath did he have any remarks to make at that time?

JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG: No, not at that moment. And about an hour later all the justices came back and took their seats again to start the new term and hear arguments. And even then, Justice Stevens got the first word. And he made an announcement that they were here, noting that the flags had flown at half-mast for the last month in honor of William Rehnquist, the chief justice but today was a new day. And today they looked to the future and welcomed their new colleague. And then he noted and this caused all the justices to laugh that they knew John Roberts. That he had argued 39 cases before the court which was more than the combined experience of the rest of them.

So Justice Stevens said Roberts was coming on as someone they already knew and respected. And then at that moment, Chief Justice Roberts stepped forward, took over and welcomed some British lawyers who were visiting. Started swearing in lawyers to the Supreme Court bar and heard arguments of the first case. It was very much business as usual. And he was very much in control.

RAY SUAREZ: So plunging right in to today's arguments, was he a big player in the give-and-take with the lawyers on the floor?

JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG: He jumped right in, now this is a very active court. All of these justices ask questions. They jump in, they cut each other off; they cut the lawyers off. And Chief Justice Roberts asked four or five questions of the first lawyer arguing the case, pressing him for his views on how he was interpreting this federal law. It was an employment law case. So he was very active.

Now Chief Justice Rehnquist also was somewhat active at argument, and would jump in and ask questions of his own. So we're not really sure -- I didn't have a sense today of how different in terms of asking questions that the Chief Justice Roberts would be as opposed to Chief Justice Rehnquist. But his style might have seemed a little, I don't want to say -- not as stern as his predecessor, but he was very much in control.

RAY SUAREZ: And when you look at the cases in the pipeline, is this going to be a year with a lot of attention on the court?

JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG: Oh, that's right, it a very controversial term it. The court has a number of key issues, social issue cases, abortion, religion, free speech. So they are going to jump right in, they have an assisted suicide case on Monday. So it will be quite a contentious term that they will be wrestling with these issues, with a new leader and then with a new nominee coming down the road, who perhaps could be confirmed by November.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, that assisted-suicide case you mentioned will be heard by Sandra Day O'Connor, who has agreed to stay on as an associate justice until her successor is sworn. What is the mechanics of that? She is going to hear some cases. And then leave.

JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG: Right. It is a little odd. And some of the cases that she hears she won't actually, her vote won't count because if she is not on the bench when the decision is raised to the issues it won't count. So those decisions could come out and they could be either five to three or if they are four to four, perhaps the court would hear re-argument and let the new justice -- if it is Justice Miers -- come in and hear arguments on that. Or they could just say it was four/four and the decision below will stand.

But Justice O'Connor today was very much the Justice O'Connor that we have seen over the years. She jumped in, she asked questions. She pressed the lawyers. So she was very active at argument and playing again a significant role from the bench. But what that role will be when the opinions come out, we'll just have to wait and see.

RAY SUAREZ: So there is no way technically for a future Justice Miers to play catch-up. If she wasn't sworn when a case was heard, she can't vote on it, right?

JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG: Unless they want to reargue it for her. And there is precedent for that, and they don't have to do it the same way for every case. For example, when Justice Thomas came on the court, he missed the first couple weeks of argument. And in several of those cases the justices decided what they were deadlocked four to four, and they decided to have re-argument so Justice Thomas could participate in them.

Now you would think that, and this is an interesting point about how a new member can affect the dynamics of the court -- you would think in that case Justice Thomas would have the deciding vote, right, because it was four/four, and he is coming on. He gets to hear argument. But in most of those cases he ended up being in dissent because some of the other Justices changed their minds when they reargued the case.

So a new justice coming on doesn't just necessarily mean one new vote. It can often change the alliances and change the way the court looks at things. So the fact we have a new chief justice, the fact that we have another justice soon to be on the bench could mean historic change for this Supreme Court, a court that is divided five to four on a host of controversial social issues, as we said, many of which they will take up this term.

RAY SUAREZ: Jan Crawford Greenburg of the Chicago Tribune, thanks for joining us.

JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG: You are welcome.

FOCUS TERROR IN BALI

JIM LEHRER: Now, the terrorist bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali. Ian Williams of Independent Television News has our report.

IAN WILLIAMS: The procession arrived in a small temple complex; the coffin in an elaborate funeral tower carried by the men; the women bringing offerings of food and flowers. Amid the color, music and grief, they prepared to cremate the body of Egosti Sudana, one of 14 Balinese confirmed dead. He had been the head waiter at Rogers Restaurant in Kuta. Friends say Sudana had been about to challenge the suicide bomber, caught on the far right in this amateur video moments before he triggered his bomb. The video was shot by an Australian tourist as he entered Rogers with his family. And leaving for home, they spoke of how lucky they were to survive.

GARY SHAW: I was just happening to walk around a camera, I guess; it wasn't deliberately done or anything. I was just taking family video and it just happened to turn out that way.

ERIKA SHAW: And I just ducked, and it was just like everything in slow motion, and it was though it wasn't happening. As soon as I got down there, I thought, "bomb."

IAN WILLIAMS: Forensic teams have continued to sift through the debris at Rogers and also at the two restaurants bombed on Jimbaran Beach where the bombers simply walked up from the beach to the crowded open air tables. The Indonesians have been joined by Australian experts, a combination that's quickly captured those behind the 2002 Bali blasts. The man in charge again is Bali Police Chief Mangku Pastika.

IAN WILLIAMS: How is the investigation going?

MANGKU PASTIKA: It is going good. We came to the conclusion already that all these bombs are suicide bombs. And now we are trying to get the identity of these people.

IAN WILLIAMS: He told me he's hunting the bomb maker and support team but he doesn't think it was a large terror cell.

IAN WILLIAMS: Do you think you are dealing with a quite big team of terrorists?

MANGKU PASTIKA: No, no.

IAN WILLIAMS: Small team.

MANGKU PASTIKA: Small team.

IAN WILLIAMS: The police believe they have broken the back of the main suspect group, Jama Islamir, blamed for the 2002 bombs and say the latest blasts may be the work of a splinter team. In an effort to identify the bombers, Pastika's team has displayed gruesome pictures of their severed heads which we have blurred.

This evening close to the beach, a solemn ceremony to cast away the evil spirits; holy water sprinkled on the restaurants that were bombed on Saturday. It took three years for Bali to recover from the 2002 blasts. And once again, the livelihood of the island is at stake.

FOCUS ARTFUL STORYTELLER

JIM LEHRER: Finally tonight, a farewell to playwright August Wilson. Jeffrey Brown does our honors.

ACTOR: I don't want to raise no more babies when you got to fight to keep them alive.

JEFFREY BROWN: In a cycle of plays considered a landmark in American theater history, August Wilson chronicled the African-American experience of the 20th Century, giving voice to those rarely represented in the theater.

ACTOR: -- don't be running -- get these out of here --

JEFFREY BROWN: His first play, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," which opened on Broadway in 1984, was set in a Chicago recording studio.

ACTOR: How come you ain't never liked me?

JEFFREY BROWN: Wilson's second play, "Fences," earned him his first Pulitzer Prize and a Tony award. Like the plays that would follow, it was set in the Pittsburgh neighborhood in which Wilson grew up. Here, James Earl Jones plays Troy Maxson, once a gifted ballplayer, now a garbage collector, confronting his son.

ACTOR: A man's got to take care of his family. You live in my house, you sleep your behind on my bedclothes, you put my food in your belly because you are my son; you are my flesh and blood, not because I like you. It is my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibility to you. Now, wait, let's get this straight right now. Don't go along any further. I ain't got to like you. Don't you go through life worried if somebody likes you or not. You best make sure that they are doing right by you.

JEFFREY BROWN: Wilson talked about "Fences" in a 1987 NewsHour interview with Charlayne Hunter-Gault.

AUGUST WILSON: I wanted to show a man who-- here again, the idea of responsibility-- a man who was responsible despite the situation and circumstances of his life, that he couldn't run off and leave his family, et cetera, which is a lot of the ideas you get about black males. So I try in all my plays in particular to present a very strong positive male image, because I am a black male.

JEFFREY BROWN: Born Frederick August Kittel in 1945, Wilson's mother, daisy Wilson, was black. His father, a German immigrant, was white. Wilson left high school at age 15 and educated himself, becoming first a poet, then a playwright.

SPOKESMAN: You never find you another piano like that.

JEFFREY BROWN: He earned numerous awards, including a second Pulitzer for "The Piano Lesson," which was later adapted for television.

SINGING: It was a hard --

JEFFREY BROWN: In 2001, during a production of "King Hedley II,"

ACTOR: They make up the rules and then they break them themselves.

ACTOR: Don't do nothing to put me two weeks behind --

JEFFREY BROWN: -- the eighth play in his cycle, Wilson spoke to Gwen Ifill.

AUGUST WILSON: I'm a black American playwright. You know, I couldn't deny it. I couldn't be anything else. I make my art out of black American culture; they're all cut out of the same cloth, if you will, you know. That's who I am; that's who I write about. You know, in the same manner that Chekhov wrote about the Russians, I write about blacks. So there's no reason why you can't say "August Wilson, playwright" even though all of my work, every single play, is about black Americans, about black American culture, about the black experience in America, you know? "August Wilson, playwright." I write about the black experience of men, or I write about black folks. That's who I am. I couldn't do anything else. I wouldn't do anything else.

JEFFREY BROWN: August Wilson completed his ten-play cycle with "Radio Golf," which opened last spring at the Yale Repertory Theater. He died Sunday at a hospital in Seattle, less than two months after announcing he had inoperable liver cancer. He was 60 years old.

JEFFREY BROWN: Some thoughts on August Wilson now from two men who knew and worked with him. Actor Anthony Chisholm performed in six of Wilson's plays, most recently in "Radio Golf" at Yale and the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Kenny Leon directed that Los Angeles production. He's directed three other Wilson plays and acted in two more. Mr. Leon directed the Broadway revival of "A Raisin in the Sun" last year, and is founder of the True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta. And welcome to you both.

Kenny Leon starting with you, what makes you want to direct a play by August Wilson?

KENNY LEON: First there is a correction, I've directed all of August Wilson's plays except for one, and last year I directed Gem of the Ocean' on Broadway and now we are challenged with taking Radio Golf' on to Broadway, and I have to say August Wilson that is the greatest playwright, if you will of our generation because he writes the truth, because he gives voices to those folks that have no voice, because he has an artistry to the honesty and I think I am humbled to have even been in his company.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Chisholm as an actor, what is it about the writing and characters that makes you want to act in his plays?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Well, his writing is so vivid it's so -- it runs so deep in your veins when you read his work. It conjures up images; it takes you on a journey instantly into his world and through his story. You see the image of your character in your mind's eye and it just takes you over. It's wonderful.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Leon, let's expand a little bit on this idea of giving voice to people who didn't have it before. Where did that come from? And why was that so important?

KENNY LEON: Well, I would say the last three or four months have been really important to me because to sit and share time with August and his -- as we put the finishing touches on Radio Golf' -- I mean his insight about life, his wisdom flows from life to play almost seamlessly -- his understanding about life. I mean no one, Shakespeare's, 26 plays, Miller, O'Neal, four or five plays but August Wilson wrote 10 plays about every decade that we've been in America. And his plays are not just for African-Americans. He wrote specifically about that culture, but -- and that specificity comes an understanding about the universal man, about all of our families, all of our loves.

And while we are talking about August, I would say, also have to say that, you know, August, you know, he leaves two daughters here who are going to miss him, and a wife that are going to miss him. And the man was a great writer. But he was a bigger man. He was a big man. And I loved him for that.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Chisholm, I understand you once got a personal tour with Mr. Wilson of the neighborhood in Pittsburgh where he grew up. Did he, in fact, take what he found there and turn it into his art? Is that where it came from?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: I would say so, absolutely. Walking through that neighborhood -- that was in 1996 -- walking through that neighborhood with August, oh, God, it was one of a lifetime experience; I was taken to places that he wrote about. I met people that he wrote about and as I took that journey, I felt that I was in to a weird kind of place in space, space -- I'm having difficulty articulating right now. But we walked for five hours in the hot sun. He took me to the famous Crawford Grill. Can you hear me?

JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: He took me to the famous Crawford Grill, similar to the Cotton Club of Harlem and owned by the man that owned the Crawford Grays baseball team. He took me to Five Points. I watched him get his haircut by an old man that had cut it when he was a child and on to other places. It was special. I could talk for hours and I know we only have minutes.

JEFFREY BROWN: Okay. Mr. Leon, tell us a little bit more about the man. I saw a description often about the work as ferocious; that is an adjective often used about his work. What about August Wilson the man?

KENNY LEON: The man, just like he dealt with death, he dealt with life the same way, with courage and with grace. And my promise to him and to his family is that August Wilson will not be a footnote in our history books. He deserves more than that. He deserves volumes because of the lives he's touched, the artists that he's touched, the people that he's touched; his plays have been done not just in America but all over the world.

I mean he's worthy of the Nobel Prize just in terms of his personal sacrifice for twenty-three, twenty-four years, he's been producing plays to talk about our history and our connection to each other. So that means that in some years he's only spending two or three months with his family, with his wife and his daughter, and that's a great sacrifice for any man. But you know, he walked the walk and he talked the talk, and he dealt with truth as he knew it.

And my commitment is to make sure that our young boys and girls, black and white, our college students, black, white, Asian, Hispanic that we all know August Wilson and we know that -- what his contributions have been. So in one way this is a -- closed one chapter but it is the opening of another chapter. And I don't think we'll really understand August's impact for another ten, twenty years.

JEFFREY BROWN: Tell us a little bit also about his impact on the black theater world because that was something he cared very much about that they are being -- that there be a thriving black theatre.

KENNY LEON: Absolutely. I think what he did was humanize our history. He put a face to many things like after slavery, for instance there were no jobs. So, you know, that is almost worse than slavery. But August put a face to that, and put characters to that and let them tell their stories. He honored our mothers and our grandmothers and our great grandmothers by putting their rituals, their songs, their myths on stage so that we could hear them.

And the great actors in the country from Samuel L. Jackson, Lawrence Fishburn, Anthony Chisholm, Felicia Richard, the famous actors put their imprints on his words but also he provided an opportunity for actors all across the country in place like Chicago and Little Rock and Atlanta. So all of America heard August's voice and all of the actors across the country had an opportunity to speak these words because it was much more -- his work is much more than a play. His work is, indeed, life. And hopefully we will understand that August was also about change and impact and there is none greater. There is not a tree that stands taller than August Wilson.

JEFFREY BROWN: Mr. Chisholm, we just have about 30 seconds left. How would he define his legacy looking ahead?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: The man was -- he was a prophet in the truest sense of the word. I urge everyone to read his works, white, black, Asian, Indian, whatever. Read this man's work. And as you read through the pages and through the stories, there are so many speeches and passages that carry depth, such depth and wisdom just on life and our existence as human beings alone.

He was a one of a kind and I hope history serves him righteously by keeping his in the forefront of every student, and every public school, and every university not only in this country but worldwide. And I hope those that can make that happen, seize that opportunity and teach courses on August Wilson just like you would like has been done on Shakespeare's.

JEFFREY BROWN: Okay. Anthony Chisholm and Kenny Leon on the life of August Wilson, thank you both very much.

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Thank you.

RECAP

JIM LEHRER: Again, the other major developments of this day: President Bush nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. John Roberts was formally installed as chief justice, as the court opened its fall term.

And late today a Texas grand jury indicted Congressman Tom DeLay on a charge of money laundering. Another grand jury indicted him last week on conspiracy to violate state election laws. That charge forced him to step down as House majority leader. We'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening when, among other things, we'll launch a special Paul Solman series on the many faces of the booming Chinese economy. For now, I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you, and good night.