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Mon Jun 28, 8:47 pm ET
As the Senate heads into its second day of confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan, lawmakers will get their first chance Tuesday to publicly question President Obama's Supreme Court nominee. The ensuing display will be familiar to any viewer of any recent confirmation process: Democratic and Republican lawmakers will be fighting to define who Kagan is and what kind of justice she might be.
In opening statements, Democrats and Kagan herself advanced a portrait of a politically neutral nominee who could be an impartial monitor of the nation's laws. Using words like 'modest' and 'restraint' to describe the kind of justice she would be, Kagan said she didn't believe the court should overreach beyond the will of the American people and their elected representatives.
But that uncontroversial image was at odds with the portrayal Republicans pressed in their opening statements: They depicted Kagan as a left-leaning opinionated activist, a hard-charging operative who had spent more time in politics than in the law. Kagan has 'less real legal experience than any nominee in at least 50 years,' Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Judiciary Committee's ranking GOP member, said in his opening statement. 'Ms. Kagan's career has been consumed more by politics than law.'
Several other Republicans voiced criticisms of Kagan's lack of experience. But Sessions' critique was perhaps the most scathing, and appeared to offer an advance blueprint of GOP strategy in fighting the nomination.
On Monday, Sessions raised questions about Kagan's college thesis … which he said 'seems to bemoan socialism's demise' … and her choice of judicial heroes, including the late Surpreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom he and other Republicans repeatedly described as an activist judge.
While Sessions argued Monday that this 'is a confirmation, not a coronation,' Kagan, barring any serious gaffes, is likely to be confirmed. As a result, much of the political theater to come will be aimed less directly at Kagan than at the Obama administration, as Republicans and Democrats look to boost their standing ahead of the November elections.
Democrats will no doubt seek to bolster Kagan's image as an impartial justice, working firmly within the mainstream. They will also look to counter GOP attacks by arguing their view that the most activist judges on the Supreme Court now are not liberals but conservatives … an argument that Leahy floated in his opening statement Monday.
… Holly Bailey is a senior politics writer for Yahoo! News.
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Σεªⁿ Wed Jun 30, 2010 11:23 pm PDT Report Abuse It's interesting that two of the Justices waited until after George W was out of office though. The Republicans have pretty much alienated most everyone with common sense from their deceptive cause.
white dove Wed Jun 30, 2010 06:28 pm PDT Report Abuse Obama wants her on the Supreme Court , So he can have his own White House Lawyer. He is getting ready to try to pass the law for all the Illegal Aliens...Don't you get it???
ProudPatriot Wed Jun 30, 2010 04:11 pm PDT Report Abuse The Second Amendment was written to the effect that the States can have a militia to protect its sovereign rights from the Federal Government and that the citizens of the state can bare arms for the same reason. If you were born in Pa. you were a Pennsylvanian , NY a New Yorker etc. The fed was
not to have any infringement on States Rights. The word Education is not in the Constitution therefore it is a State right. Read the constitution.
wet cat Wed Jun 30, 2010 04:02 pm PDT Report Abuse Isn't elena a woman's name?
The right to bear arms is NOT based in the need FOR PERSONAL SAFETY in the minds of the writers of that amendment; the right to bear arms is based in the need for a militia to protect the government from attack.
But nowadays, who cares?
The whole issue has been turned upside down.
Loved... loved the way you point that out!!!
MyMom Wed Jun 30, 2010 02:22 pm PDT Report Abuse CHRIS FARLEY for Supreme Court!
colKurtz Wed Jun 30, 2010 02:09 pm PDT Report Abuse This Robert's ACTIVIST Court has come down on the side of the Corporatocracy and Plutocrats every single time, NEVER have they sided with the Common Man or the Middle Class/consumers.
But hey the Repuke Parties got it goin' on! .05% of the population has SUCKERED 46.5% of the population into Voting AGAINST their OWN SELF Interest, Now that's Payin' it forward!!
And I assure you no one in the top 1% Income Earners is Slummin' on this board!
In the strictest sense of the 2nd Amendment we should have a National Guard almost like many police forces, where the soldier takes his tank or helicopter home and parks it in the driveway. Also, in the strictest sense, any infringement is a violation of the 2nd Amendment so denying someone the opportunity to buy a Stinger missile would be unconstitutional.
However, this is why, like Kat wrote below, the writers wrote this purposefully vague and provided the means to create further amendments down the road. It's been two hundred years and two million interpretations later, the original meaning no longer exists or can exist. The Founding Fathers knew this, and I just wish that more people understood this - no need for tantrums because somebody is trying to move the line a millimeter this way or that.
J. Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:30 pm PDT Report Abuse Kagan is against civil rights and is therefore anti-American.
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