He served as a Captain in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1956 to 1959.
[3][2] Miner was nominated by President Reagan on June 25, 1985, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, to a new seat created by 98 Stat.
[4][2] In 1987 after Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination was rejected by the Senate, President Reagan considered appointing Miner.
Miner was alongside eventual nominee Anthony Kennedy and Ralph K. Winter Jr. one of three candidates considered acceptable by the Senate’s Democratic majority under the leadership of Joe Biden and Robert Byrd.
[5] Miner was, however, opposed by some Senate Republicans,[6] and drew strong opposition from anti-abortion and right-to-work groups,[7] because of his refusal to state his position on abortion.
[8] In January 1987 Miner and Jon O. Newman heard Salinger v. Random House, deciding that with unpublished works the right of the copyright owner to control publication took precedence over the right of "fair use".