The Associated Press is running two stories on the wire this afternoon indicating that the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee is planning on grilling Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers on a range of different issues. First, Liz Austin's report out of Texas.

A Senate panel may seek testimony from a former Texas lottery official who claimed Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers let a company keep its contract because one of its lobbyists helped President Bush get into the National Guard in the 1960s.

Miers, whose confirmation hearings begin Nov. 7, chaired the three-person Texas Lottery commission from 1995 to 2000.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings on Miers' nomination, recently asked GTECH Corp., the Texas lottery's main contractor, whether it would object to testimony from Lawrence Littwin about allegations in his 1998 lawsuit against the company, GTECH spokesman Bob Vincent said Wednesday.

Littwin, the lottery's second executive director, was fired in 1997 after just four months on the job. He sued GTECH, saying it took "illegal, unethical and coercive steps" to get him fired because he was asking too many questions about the company's contract with the state.

He claimed the Rhode Island-based company kept its contract in exchange for former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes' silence about how he had helped Bush get into the National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam. Barnes was a lobbyist for GTECH from 1991 until 1997.

Jesse J. Holland also reports that the judiciary panel will not only be looking at Miers' record in service to George W. Bush but also her views on complex judicial issues.

The senator who will preside at Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' confirmation hearings told her Wednesday to expect to be questioned about White House's policies on the war on terror and whether she can be independent of President Bush if confirmed.

Senate Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., told Miers to expect questions on the area of executive authority "especially in light of your close relationship with the president and the key positions you have held in the White House."

For example, Specter said in a letter of preview questions for Miers, "What assurances can you give the Senate and the American people that you will be independent, if confirmed, and not give President Bush any special deference on any matter involving him which might come before the court?"

What ever happened to the belief among Republicans that it is unacceptable for Senators to probe judicial nominees on issues that could come before the court?