The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to become the nation's fourth female Supreme Court justice, setting up a final confirmation vote by the Senate.
The committee vote broke down mostly along partisan lines, with one Republican joining the panel's Democrats in sending the nomination to the full Senate on a 13-6 vote.
Democrats repeatedly characterized Kagan as a strong legal thinker who would be a fair judge, while Republicans slammed her as an inexperienced activist who would be unable to divorce her legal judgments from her political opinions.
Members on both sides expressed frustration with a confirmation hearing process many observers say increasingly yields few clear answers about a nominee's judicial philosophy.
Confirmation by the full Senate expected by the end of the month.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
I see no justification for a filibuster on this nominee...(Which makes me more charitable than our President, who as a Senator supported a filibuster attempt against Sam Alito on purely ideological grounds)
She certainly wouldn't have been my choice, but as I've pointed out before, elections have consequences....
I'm not comfortable with some of the things she's written and said, but I confess I have considerably less trouble with her than I did with Soto-Mayor, who spoke repeatedly about how she felt that her background would lead her to make "better" decisions than white males....
And the fact is that she's replacing the most liberal member of the Court, so if anything she's likely to be more moderate than Stevens.
Lord Jim wrote:And the fact is that she's replacing the most liberal member of the Court ....
Actually, as all of us who actually pay attention to the Supreme Court know, there hasn't been a liberal on the Court for almost two decades. And as all of us who actually pay attention to the Supreme Court know, no other Supreme Court has ever been as activist as right-wing Supreme Courts.
The simple fact is that moving the Court away from right-wingism is moving the Court towards the good of most Americans. As is stopping the Republicans from gaining control of anything. Right-wingers just don't get it. As well-intentioned as they may be, they are deluded.
A good step in the right direction would be to cut off the Old South completely. Then maybe rationality could prevail.
Reason is valuable only when it performs against the wordless physical background of the universe.
