Legal Commentary

The "Dreary And Tiresome" Folks Who Care What A SCOTUS Nominee Thinks

By Big Tent Democrat

Judgment, values, and politics are what matters on the Court. And here I am somewhat at a loss. Clearly, [Kagan]’s a Democrat. She was a highly regarded member of the White House staff during the Clinton years, but her own views were and are something of a mystery. She has written relatively little, and nothing of great consequence. - Jeff Toobin, cited by Jack Balkin to evidence that Elena Kagan is not a "stealth nominee."

Coming from a law professor, expressing disdain because people care what a SCOTUS nominee thinks is strange. Coming from the very smart Jack Balkin, it seems incomprehensible:

Liberals and conservatives alike are worried about Kagan's politics once she becomes a Justice. They are pouring over her body of legal writings, scrutinizing elements of her career, and psychoanalyzing her from a distance. Journalists are busily constructing a story of her life to make her accessible to the general public, while her political opponents try to engage in various forms of character assassination or, at the very least, a death by a thousand cuts. I find all of this dreary and tiresome.

(Emphasis supplied.) WTF? And this is BS:

Elena Kagan is hardly a stealth nominee. She has worked in two Democratic administrations and been the Dean of a major law school. If you can't figure out her general sensibilities, you really haven't been trying very hard.

I personally have been trying very damn hard and I can say without reservation that Elena Kagan is, based on her public record, the biggest cipher I have seen nominated for the Court since David Souter. And we know how that worked out for the GOP (it worked out great for the country as Souter was the finest Justice of the past 20 years imo.) Apparently, we are to trust Balkin's intuition:

Elena Kagan will be a fine Justice, and in time the equal, I fully expect, of anyone currently sitting on the Court.

Well, now that Jack Balkin has said so, I feel oh so much better. Sheesh. Worst post Balkin has ever written.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 10, 2010 (boomark / email).