Elena Kagan to be nominated for the Supreme Court

[vermicious knid]

NBC: Obama to name Kagan for high court (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36967616/ns/politics-supreme_court/)
http://i43.tinypic.com/9kuotc.jpg


I really don't think she is a great choice based on all the things I've read.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/13/kagan
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-01/the-next-harriet-miers/
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/blank-slate

[HejiraNYC]

NBC: Obama to name Kagan for high court (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36967616/ns/politics-supreme_court/)
http://i43.tinypic.com/9kuotc.jpg


I really don't think she is a great choice based on all the things I've read.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/13/kagan
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-01/the-next-harriet-miers/
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/blank-slate

Well, she's certainly not the most experienced candidate to ever come up for the post, but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. If anything, I think that a candidate with a long (liberal) judicial record would have a much harder time passing muster on both sides of the aisle. Kagan is a bit of a blank slate (um... much like Obama himself in a lot of ways), but, if nothing else, she is socially progressive and an ardent advocate of civil rights. At the end of the day, I think her biggest liability is her uncanny resemblance with Kevin James.
http://multimedia.heraldinteractive.com/images/361607299e_KevinJames_10042009.jpg

I'm just saying...

[LukeA]

Not exactly Harriet Miers.. but its a bit of a head-scratcher. Definitely looking forward to the confirmation hearings.

[carrie721]

Well, she's certainly not the most experienced candidate to ever come up for the post, but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. If anything, I think that a candidate with a long (liberal) judicial record would have a much harder time passing muster on both sides of the aisle. Kagan is a bit of a blank slate (um... much like Obama himself in a lot of ways), but, if nothing else, she is socially progressive and an ardent advocate of civil rights. At the end of the day, I think her biggest liability is her uncanny resemblance with Kevin James.
http://multimedia.heraldinteractive.com/images/361607299e_KevinJames_10042009.jpg

I'm just saying...

OMG.

there goes my diet coke.

[vermicious knid]

<object width="420" height="245" id="msnbc21aabd" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640"><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=37096678&width=420&height=245"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="opaque" /><embed name="msnbc21aabd" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="420" height="245" FlashVars="launch=37096678&width=420&height=245" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="opaque" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 420px;">Visit msnbc.com for <a style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px; color:#5799DB !important;">news about the economy</a></p>

[gldstwmn]

Justice Souter had a similar record to Kagan's and he worked out okay.
The guy on Daily Beast comparing her to Harriet Miers is loony. Sorry, I just don't see the connection.
Salon's article conjecturing she would move the court further to the right is silly with Roberts, Scalia, Alito and Thomas already there. Does Salon really believe that Obama wants to move the court further to the right? I don't.

[Ghost_Tracker]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. My first reaction was, "A Supreme Court Justice with NO experience as a Judge!? You have got to be freaking KIDDING me!!!" But the thing is, Obama needs an "easy confirmation" here - - - he needs to be careful how he spends his Political Capital for the rest of his term, of course - - and they say that this is someone the Republicans can feel more-or-less happy about. And she's clearly got some seriously-big time credentials and is an expert in the Law. I'm not *totally* sure you have to see someone run a red light to be able to understand that if someone has done that, they've broken the law and should get a ticket. I think it could be argued that the same is (pretty much) true in more-complex situations - she's an expert in the Law and is able to understand the complex issues related to it, as she's demonstrated by developing her extremely impressive resume. (Including clerking for a Supreme Court Justice, by the way.) So I kinda-sorta feel more or less positively about it.
Was she the BEST candidate available? No, clearly not.
Is she the best candidate available who can get easily confirmed, without political cost to Obama which he can't afford? Apparently so...


P.S. - By the way, Elena Kagan was a member of Bill Clinton's legal team. Translation: She was (probably) a part of his defense team when he was impeached. I don't know one way or the other and don't have time to check it out right now; but it seems pretty likely.