Nothing brings out the ideologues like a nomination to fill a vacancy on the US Supreme Court. This is not surprising as the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice is possibly the most important function of the President – and a new Justice will typically sit on the bench for twenty to thirty years or more. President Obama has had the opportunity to appoint two Associate Justices to the Court so far in his Presidency. The current vacancy on the Court is the result of the decision of Justice Stevens, 90 years old, to retire from his seat on the Court which he has held since 1975.
The President has nominated Elena Kagan to replace Justice Stevens. Ms Kagan has spent her legal career in teaching and in politics. She has been a teacher at the University of Chicago Law School and has taught and served as Dean of Harvard Law School. She has served in the Clinton White House as Associate Counsel to the President and serves in the current administration as Solicitor General. It should also be noted that she served as law clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Ms Kagan has been criticized for her lack of judicial experience but I note a number of prominent Supreme Court Justices in the last Century – including 3 Chief Justices – have come to the Supreme Court with no prior judicial experience (8 in my lifetime). (Justice Louis Brandeis, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, Justice Felix Frankfurter, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Justice Abe Fortas, Justice Hugo Black, Justice Lewis Powell, Justice Byron White and Chief Justice William Rehnquist)
Ms Kagan’s academic credentials seem excellent. She is certainly a liberal – which would be expected for a nominee from this President, but she replaces a Justice who was aligned with the liberal wing of the Court on many issues – so the balance of the Court is not changed significantly… although the replacement of any Justice out of a group of nine will change the personal dynamics of the group.
An item of more concern to me would be the probability that her judicial philosophy might be more governed by her political ideology and her political agenda that has driven her actions for decades. I hope for a judge or Justice of the Supreme Court to rule based upon law and precedent. Although I admit to liking the definition of an activist judge as one who makes a decision that I do not like.
I do not like the fact that she banned military recruiters from Harvard Law School while she was Dean. I like less that when the Supreme Court upheld the right of the government to withhold federal funds from a school that would not permit military recruiters to come on campus, she caved and allowed recruiters back on campus, while encouraging students to protest.
I will watch the confirmation hearings for some demonstration of her abilities and qualifications – but her eventual confirmation is likely because of the Democrat majorities in the committee and in the full Senate. I don’t expect the mainstream media to do their job as investigative journalists and there is little paper trail with a nominee that has not been an appellate judge. I am not aware of anything at this time that will derail this nomination.
Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich has been more vocal in his opposition to Ms Kagan. Following You-Tube clip is from a recent appearance by Newt at the NRA convention.
My source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOVGyhyWNTo&feature=player_embedded
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