President George W. Bush dismayed his conservative base yesterday by nominating his own White House counsel, Harriet Miers, for a lifetime appointment to the US Supreme Court, bypassing conservative judges in favour of a loyal lieutenant with no judicial record.

The choice, much like his nomination of John Roberts as chief justice, could defuse what had been expected to be a monumental partisan struggle over the replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor, the pivotal moderate on the current Supreme Court.