Miers, Harriet Ellan

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Harriet Ellan Miers (mī´ərz), 1945–, American lawyer and government official, b. Dallas, Tex., grad. Southern Methodist Univ. (B.S., 1967; J.D., 1970). A prominent female lawyer in private practicein Texas, she became counsel to George W. Bush's 1994 gubernatorial campaign and head of state lottery commission (1995–2000). Miers subsequently served under Bush in the White House, becoming White House counsel (2004–7). The president nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, but she withdrew after Bush's conservative supporters stridently objected to her lack of a judicial and ideological track record.