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ElenaKagan 30 - 05 Jul 2010 - Main.SamWells
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| | Is anyone else disappointed with this nomination (from a non liberal/conservative point of view)?
I think it is terribly disappointing that we keep getting these Ivy League judges on the Supreme Court. Sure, Kagan has no "bench" experience, so in that aspect she is diverse. She is also female, which may be needed. But, she is still what at least 7 out of the other 8 are on the court: legal intellectuals. Frankly, I would have liked to have seen (and would like to see in the future) non-intellectuals grace the halls of the court again. There used to be a time when one did not have to go to an Ivy league law school to be on the court. Now, it is a prerequisite. And, I can't think of a nominee that would be a bigger intellectual than Kagan: law prof turned Harvard Law School Dean. But, I don't know the woman, so, maybe I'm wrong. | | | As the nominee takes pains not to look too pained today, the reason Marshall and Roberts are the ones on trial here is also quite plain: Republicans fear that, in this confirmation hearing, Kagan is pretending to be just what Roberts pledged to be (temperate, centrist, and humble), but that once she takes the bench, she will become Marshall (legendary, visionary, liberal). And in a weird piece of symmetry, this Republican fear is the Democrats' most fervent hope.
-- JessicaCohen - 29 Jun 2010 | |
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Fluency in "transcendental nonsense" seems to be the hallmark of an ivy-league education. Grads of such institutions are better able to uphold the illusion of the inevitable logicality of court decisions. This makes them well suited to writing supreme court opinions.
This article in the NY Times paints Kagan as ready to defer to Congress' decisions on most issues that implicate public policy. Perhaps she has simply adopted the safe, strategic stance, as she has done throughout her career (save for a brief period when young). Or perhaps she really does think that legal reasoning should occupy a realm distinct from social reality. If she's confirmed, it will be interesting to discover the extent to which each is true. It's a shame that nominees feel the need to make themselves so hard to pin down. When, fifteen years ago, Kagan wrote in a law review article that the confirmation process was "a vapid and hollow charade," I wonder if she was planning to one day find herself on center stage.
-- SamWells - 05 Jul 2010 | | | |
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