None of the Senate's 55 Republican senators publicly has opposed Miers. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., among those who have said conservatives would have preferred a different nominee, said he expects most Senate Republicans to stay silent on Miers until the hearings that are set to begin Nov. 7.
"I think most people are granting her, according her, the benefit of the doubt, subject to the time she has to appear before the committee to make her case in person," Thune said.
Committee aides have begun interviewing participants on an Oct. 3 conference call in which two of Miers' longtime friends said they believed she would vote to overturn
Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established abortion rights.
Gary Bauer, president of American Values, met with four committee lawyers on Monday, said his spokeswoman, Kristi Hamrick. She said Bauer told the lawyers that he asked Texas Supreme Court Judge Nathan Hecht and U.S. District Court Judge Ed Kinkeade during the call whether their comments were authorized by the White House or Miers. Bauer said the judges said they were offering personal opinions, not authorized assurances, she said.
Committee lawyers hope to interview Hecht and Kinkeade, as well as James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family. He said he received private assurances from the White House that Miers is opposed to abortion.
Dobson has told the committee's top Republican aide he had not received information on how Miers might rule on Roe, spokesman Paul Hetrick said.
