Response to Elena Kagan's Supreme Court Nomination

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan with President Obama and Vice President BidenRedTracker| As she awaits confirmation to the Supreme Court, US Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s morning headlines read:

Kagan’s Legal Record Portrays a Cautious Liberal WSJ and excerpted at FOX News

The Google “quote box” at the top of a news search page says: “My view is that efforts to regulate pornography and hate speech not only will fail but should fail to the extent that they trivialize or subvert this principle”. 

Elena Kagan nomination for Supreme Court riles both sides of political aisle Washington Post

For liberals, the fact that Kagan isn’t ideological enough to guarantee her support on a variety of issues troubles some ideological stalwarts. Far-right conservatives say she’s hopelessly tainted with liberal views like supporting a woman’s right to the abortion that is currently part of American law. Any supreme court nominee not committed to overturning Roe vs Wade would not be acceptable to far-right conservatives.

Conservative lawyers, educators and public officials have generally praised Elena Kagan for her temperance and circumspect nature. She was described on last evening’s PBS News Hour by a conservative, male legal scholar as a person who genuinely likes to listen to opposing arguments and who also likes people.

Discourse — especially public discourse — thrills Elena Kagan. Intellectual debate gives her a rush. Jeffrey Tobin described Kagan on last night’s CNN 360: “as a consensus builder. During her time as dean of Harvard Law School, she united a deeply divided faculty. Clearly, the hope from the president is that she will do for the Supreme Court what she did for the Harvard faculty, if that’s possible.”

Elena Kagan isn’t a shoe-in as a supreme court nominee, but her nomination is as assured as any other possible candidate’s.