Some who have worked with her say that the same punctiliousness that made her a sterling steward of the White House paper flow sometimes made her an impediment in her policy jobs, and that her focus on process bodes ill for her work as a justice.

"It wasn't that she didn't do the job right," said David Frum, who was a White House speechwriter when Ms. Miers was staff secretary and has been one of her sharpest critics, "but the way she did the job rules her out of being a person you would think of as capable of handling this enormous responsibility."

Mr. Bolten acknowledged that he was somewhat surprised when Ms. Miers was chosen as staff secretary because the job had often been filled by more politically minded operatives, including Richard G. Darman in the Reagan administration.

But he added, "What I think made Harriet so successful as staff secretary was that she was a diligent and honest broker, able to digest very complicated material rapidly, and produce a fair resolution for the president, so that the advice that was going in to the president was fully and fairly presented."

Ms. Miers's friends in and out of government express disappointment that her nomination has not been greeted in a similar spirit and say they do not recognize her critics' descriptions of her as an unqualified presidential crony.

"Harriet is a person who is incredibly capable and hard-working and fair and honest," said Susan L. Karamanian, an associate dean at George Washington University Law School and a Democrat who was mentored by Ms. Miers as a young lawyer in her Dallas firm nearly 20 years ago.

"When I practiced with Harriet, I never once heard her make a serious negative comment about anyone," Ms. Karamanian said. "And now for someone who's dedicated her life to working so hard in the profession, and treating everyone so fairly, to be the object of these statements is just incomprehensible to me."