Did a large procession wave their torches as my head fell in the basket, and was everybody dancing on the casket?

John Eastman reacts to the Harriet Miers nomination. Eastman suggests that a key component of the conservative movement that swept Reagan into office -- strict constructionists, federalists, libertarians -- has been "boxed out" with the nomination of Miers. According to Eastman, the glue that held that old movement together was its belief in limited government, which was reliably advocated by the three main factions of the movement (national security "hawks," "values" voters or "doves," and free market libertarians or "marketeers"). When significant portions of two of those factions (big business and "values" voters) found that big government -- as long as they controlled it -- might be even more of a boon to their interests than limited government, they abandoned the old federalist stance.

And now they're waving their torches and dancing on federalism's casket.

(Hat tip: Randy Barnett at Volokh Conspiracy)