US: United States senators will start questioning Harriet Miers, President George Bush's controversial nominee for the Supreme Court, on November 7th amid signs that she could face strong opposition from both the left and the right.
Ms Miers's views on abortion have become a central issue for senators after the White House released documents from 1989 showing that she favoured overturning the federal ruling that allows abortions in all US states.
Democrats and liberal Republicans expressed concern at the sentiments endorsed by Ms Miers in a questionnaire for Texans United for Life, an anti-abortion group. But the questionnaire may not be enough to reassure conservatives who fear that Ms Miers lacks the intellectual authority to shift the Supreme Court to the right.
The White House said Ms Miers's 1989 statements, which included an assertion that abortion should always be banned unless the mother's life is at risk, could not be used to predict how she would approach the issue if she is confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Ms Miers told senators this week that nobody knew how she would vote on Roe v Wade, the ruling that underpins abortion rights in America. She gave confusing and sometimes conflicting answers when asked if the US constitution guarantees a right to privacy - the legal basis of federal abortion rights.
A former personal lawyer to Mr Bush and currently White House counsel, Ms Miers has never served as a judge or written about constitutional law and senators have suggested delaying her confirmation hearings.
Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said she needed "some time to learn" about complex constitutional cases and Arlen Specter, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it would be "unfair to start the hearings before she's ready".
The documents released by the White House show that Ms Miers held conservative views on a number of issues when she sought election to Dallas city council in 1989. She told one right-wing group that she would not support a law "to force businesses to hire persons with Aids and those perceived to have Aids".
During the same campaign, however, Ms Miers expressed support for civil rights for gays and lesbians.