Religious Leaders Dobson, Bauer Face Bipartisan Senate Panel Questioning About Inside Miers Information...

Conservative activists including James Dobson and Gary Bauer are facing questions from a bipartisan team of Senate Judiciary Committee investigators in advance of the high-stakes confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.

As part of the process of considering whether to call Dobson, Bauer and other conservatives involved in conference calls about Miers nomination, Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking member, are contacting those activists and asking them to explain what happened in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 3 announcement.

Specter's chief counsel, Michael O'Neil, has sent Dobson a letter asking him to spell out exactly what he has been told by White House officials about Miers, according to Specter's staff. The chairman has instructed O'Neil or other aides to follow up in conversations with Dobson to discuss the matter, which first came to light when Dobson told media interviewers that Bush adviser Karl Rove had given him private assurances that Miers would be a conservative judge.

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