Litigation

What Would ?Justice? Kagan Mean for High Court?

By Peter Hardin

What would confirmation of Elena Kagan, President Obama’s newest nominee to the Supreme Court, mean for the court’s future?

The answer is a topic of widespread debate–and speculation.

The solicitor general and first female dean of Harvard Law School would likely bring “a lasting, liberal presence, and administration officials hope she would, in the words of one, ’start to move the court into a different posture and profile,’” according to a Washington Post article.

“[H]er  intellect, her restraint, her consistent engagement with pressing national issues, and her close and personal relationship with reality are qualities in keeping with some of the greatest justices who have served on the court �?? qualities in short supply on that bench today,” Jeff Shesol wrote in the New York Times’ Room for Debate blog.

“She does not bring to the court a fully worked out judicial philosophy…[S]he will try to influence the majority whenever possible to move closer to her point of view. She has a long career ahead of her, and her impact will be gradual but considerable,” Alan M. Dershowitz suggested in the same blog.

A number of conservatives characterized Obama’s choice to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens a “radical threat,” according to a New York Times article, but there also were liberals who were hoping for a nominee with a more robust liberal record.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, had asked at a point preceding the nomination, �??Why do the conservatives always get the conservatives, but we don�??t get to get the liberals?�?�

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah and a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicated he was leaning toward a vote for Kagan’s confirmation, according to a Wall Street Journal article, which said early signs point to her confirmation–unless there is a bombshell development.

But Sen. Jeff Sessions, the committee’s top Republican, questioned Kagan’s “activist” background. Sessions signaled Republicans would fight her confirmation harder than they did Obama’s pick last year,  Sonia Sotomayor, according to Politico.

Ron Klain, Vice President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, called Kagan “clearly a legal progressive” who would not change the court’s balance.

Full post as published by The Gavel on May 11, 2010 (boomark / email).