President Obama Nominates Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court
Monday, May 10, 2010
President Barack Obama today nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan as his pick to fill the vacancy created by Justice John Paul Stevens' retirement.
Kagan has sterling academic and professional qualifications along with a deep and abiding respect for core constitutional values and a willingness to stand up for the rights of ordinary Americans. If confirmed, Kagan will be only the fourth woman of 111 total justices to serve on the Supreme Court.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Alliance for Justice - who supports the Kagan nomination - has a comprehensive report on Elena Kagan: her background, her jurisprudence and her ideology.
However, there are many on the left who have loudly asserted that Kagan might move the Court to the right, not to the left. Glenn Greenwald at Salon has assembled the various criticisms of a Kagan appointment.
"As I've previously documented and examine further below, the evidence that is available strongly suggests that a Kagan-for-Stevens substitution would move the Court to the Right in critical areas. But Kagan's lack of a real record on these vital questions, by itself, should cause progressives to oppose her nomination."
On the same pages, James Doty says that concerns such as Greenwald's "are, at the very least, dramatically overstated. A review of Kagan’s professional record and writings suggests that she would fit comfortably on the left-hand side of the judicial spectrum."
Time will tell whether Kagan moves the Court to the right or to the left, if she is confirmed by the Senate at all. But, there is one thing we can be certain of: President Obama will do everything he can to move her confirmation swiftly through the Senate before the November elections when the Democrats face the distinct possibility of losing control of the Senate.
