With so many of their friends opposed to the Harriet Miers nomination, her GOP handlers are seeking Miers boosters wherever they can find them. Yesterday the RNC circulated quotes from an op-ed by a woman lawyer who declared her old friend Harriet Miers is “supremely qualified” for the Court. In her opinion piece for Bloomberg News, Martha Barnett, a past president of the ABA, recounts her collaboration with the nominee on ABA issues and praises her “reality tempered with practicality.” She notes that Chief Justices Marshall and Rehnquist, like Miers, had no prior judicial experience. Barnett cites her and the president’s friendship with Miers and sees friendship as a “valid and time-honored criterion for making high-level appointments.” Who is Martha Barnett, whose views the RNC expects its supporters to find persuasive? She is a partner in the law firm of Holland and Knight. Campaign finance records indicate that she donated $1,000 to John Kerry in 2004 and $1,000 to Betty Castor, who ran against Mel Martinez in Florida last year. She is a donor to Emily’s List and her many accolades include the “Hillary Clinton Glass Cutter Award.” Shouldn’t the RNC be a bit more sceptical about the judgment of someone who presumably voted against George Bush? (It’s a pleasure to join you guys here in Bench Memos. Can Kathryn and I be considered co-pioneers?)