NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — President Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the nation’s 112th justice, choosing his own chief advocate before the Supreme Court to join it in ruling on cases critical to his view of the country’s future.
After a monthlong search, Mr. Obama informed Ms. Kagan and his advisers on Sunday of his choice to succeed the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.
In settling on Ms. Kagan, the president chose a well-regarded 50-year-old lawyer who served as a staff member in all three branches of government and was the first woman to be dean of Harvard Law School. If confirmed, she would be the youngest member and the third woman on the current court, but the first justice in nearly four decades without any prior judicial experience.
That lack of time on the bench may both help and hurt her confirmation prospects, allowing critics to question whether she is truly qualified while denying them a lengthy judicial paper trail filled with ammunition for attacks. As solicitor general, Ms. Kagan has represented the government before the Supreme Court for the past year, but her own views are to a large extent a matter of supposition.
Perhaps as a result, some on both sides of the ideological aisle are suspicious of her. Liberals dislike her support for strong executive power and her outreach to conservatives while running the law school. Activists on the right have attacked her for briefly barring military recruiters from a campus facility because the ban on openly gay men and lesbians serving in the military violated the school’s anti-discrimination policy.
Replacing Justice Stevens with Ms. Kagan presumably would not alter the broad ideological balance on the court, but her relative youth means that she could have an influence on the court for decades to come, underscoring the stakes involved.
In making his second nomination in as many years, Mr. Obama was not looking for a liberal firebrand as much as a persuasive
I think nominating Ms. Kagan was probably a good thing. I think its good that she sees both sides, not just the liberal or conservative. She will make them both happy in some ways and both mad in some ways but she will be well-balanced. So she won't recieve too much dislike. I do think, however, that to be on the Supreme court that you should at least have been a judge for a little while. She has had no judging experience at all. I think that with her being so young, that she will get some practice now and probably in a few years be a pretty good justice because of her balance and practice as a Supreme Court justice.
ReplyDeleteYeah! It is a good thing that Obama picked a moderate candidate. If only Bush had done the same thing.. Instead, he picks one of the most conservative person ever picked to the Court in its most important position! The Supreme Court has gone considerably conservative over the past few decades, as Republicans have just happened to be in office while justices have stepped down. This is one of those few things that I've gotten angry at Obama, and one of the many things I've gotten mad at Republicans for. Obama because he wants to appoint moderates because he wants to try to avoid an inevidable fight with Republicans. And of course, I'm mad at Republicans who only care about winning elections right now. Joel, I want to explain to you something. One of the reasons President Obama picked Ms. Kagan as a justice was because she was from outside the court system. You do not want the highest court in all the land to be full of the same type of people. You need different people from different backs of life that can bring new experience and ideas to the court.
ReplyDeleteI think the decision of Obama was a good choice picking a young and healthy guy for the justice. I dont like that he dosn't have any expirence in being a top court official but he does carry some other important qualities that will help with the job. This also means they will have him for many years so evan if he isnt that good at it with the life term he will have tons of time to get the hang of it. He also has a great background and lots of expience in othe things which makes it easier to see why he appointed him. He might evanbring new things that other court justices havnt done before.so all in all i think it was a great decision for him and im sure many others too some may not but it is a smart choicer and they will see too.
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