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The confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, began this morning.
While Kagan is promising "a fair shake for every American, even-handedness and impartiality," Republicans are already saying she will be an activist judge in the mold of Thurgood Marshall.
Maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing, considering that Chief Justice John Roberts is shaping up to be an extremely conservative pick for the court.
Kagan, the solicitor general for the U.S. government, should be easily confirmed, barring a major disaster. Republican senators are already grilling her about her time as dean of the Harvard Law School. While there, she banned military recruiters from campus because of the military's wishy-washy "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" policy violated Harvard discrimination policies.
Republicans went after Kagan pretty hard early on when Kagan explained that military recruiters did have access to students. "I respect and indeed I revere the military," Kagan said.
"I'm just a little taken aback by the tone of your remarks, because it is unconnected to reality," said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama.
Kagan has a reputation as someone who is able to listen to opposing opinions and then work toward common ground. It seems we may need more of that on the court.
Obama has taken some criticism for choosing Kagan over a black female nominee. It would have been great to see the first black woman on the Supreme Court, but more important is that Kagan's nomination will not swing an already conservative court even further. And this may not be the last time Obama has a chance to add a pick to the court.
Kagan said she wouldn't mind televising the Supreme Court hearings:
"It would be a great thing for the court, and it would be a great thing for the American people," she said.
I'm sure the folks at C-Span are jumping for joy.
I, however, don't think everything needs to be televised. I don't need to see a reality show based on the Supreme Court while it deliberates momentous issues, such as abortion or gun control. As long as the court's hearings and proceeding are available to the public, I think we are covered.
What are your thoughts on Kagan?
Comments: (3)
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By: rightorwrong on 6/29/2010 2:18PM
What makes the writer think that the african american people or the people of america will give him a second chance to pick another supreme court candidate? duh, he had the opportunity to make good here put he blew it, as for kegan, i watched the opening speeches about her on c-span.org she has no qualifcation as a judge to be on the supreme court, she has no paper trail, she has a thin record on cases and she is very liberal, not once did she hire a minority at harvard and yet Obama says trust him? Duh, you talk about clarence thomas in the supreme courts, Obama has joined him by putting or rather recommending kegan to go full speed ahead to taken away everything that the civil rights era worked so hard for, when are black african americans going go wake up and smell the coffee and stop falling Obama blindly with some of his policies, by then it will be too late, and oh yeah 2012 is just around the corner it will soon be time to visit someone of the black/middle class hoods and try and fool us again, simple this woman and Obama have a gay agenda, she already banned the military from recruiting as harvard, she claims it didn't fit in with equal opportunties, well where next head for the church and pastors and preachers and say that they do not apply equal opportunities because they speak against homosexulaity? Obama attends a epsical church remember the gene case where they voted in their 1st gay preacher Duh, america is being destroyed from within it's already melt-down if she is elected? watch the fall of america begining with the military!notice that the naacp and rev al sharpton are falling and bowing to Obama here and recommending her to the supreme court, notice that the black cacus have smelt the coffee and a lot of black/african americans, Obama threw rev wright under the bus, well he threw a lot of other black people under the bus!
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By: alie on 6/29/2010 3:39PM
Kegan on c-span what a load of rubbish senator spector wiped the floor with her she waffles a great deal and did not answer a great deal of his questions, if she progresses God help us all! They must be better nominees out there even black and perhaps even from a different university as dr Boyce has mentioned. This is a poor candidate!
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By: Mirza on 6/30/2010 9:06AM
How did Elena Kagan manage to become dean of Harvard Law school? From what I heard, as an academic, she only published couple of articles and reviews. She has been an academic for 20 years and during that time one would expect her to publish hundreds of papers and dozens of books.
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