The following is a timeline of the controversy over the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.
9 April 2010
Justice John Paul Stevens announces he will retire at the end of the 2010 summer session. Elena Kagan is named as a possible replacement at this time. [A]
5 May 2010
Evidence surfaces that Kagan (then the Dean of Harvard Law School) covered for professors when they plagiarized. [B]
7 May 2010
CNS News begins speculating who might be named to replace Stevens, and what their selection might mean for the balance of the Court.
10 May 2010
Obama officially announces Kagan is his nominee to replace Stevens.
CNS News runs a story about Kagan, noting that she is pro-abortion, dodged questions during her nomination for Solicitor General, and has worked in an advisory role for Goldman Sachs.
Kagan’s competence comes into question at this time, as transcripts of her arguing before the Supreme Court show that she lacked a fundamental understanding of the issue she was arguing. [C]
David Hardy posts on Kagan, noting she has little experience, and has rarely been published in law reviews.
11 May 2010
David Codrea posts an article questioning Kagan’s stance on guns. In short– not great, but not awful, either.
13 May 2010
John Lott posts an article showing that Kagan used the phrase “not sympathetic” in reference to a court case regarding unlicensed concealed carry.
16 May 2010
Senator Sessions (R-AL) notes that Kagan (as Dean) made the job of recruiters at Harvard Law harder, calling it “no little-bitty matter.”
Newt Gingrich calls this “an act so unbecoming an American that she should be disqualified, from the very beginning.”
The same day, Chuck Schumer calls Kagan “brilliant” and “practical.”
17 May 2010
It comes to light that Kagan helped craft Bill Clinton’s strategy that kept partial-birth abortion legal.
The White House asks the Clinton Library to release papers relating to Kagan (including her emails).
Quotes from GOP members show that a filibuster of Kagan is unlikely.
A friend of Kagan says that she “is largely a progressive in the mold of Obama himself.”
18 May 2010
Since she helped craft the Obama administration’s defense of health care “reform,” Kagan might have to recuse herself from any Supreme Court health care case.
It comes to light that Kagan advocated campaign finance reform during the Clinton administration. Ironically, this is the subject she showed little grasp of before the Supreme Court.
19 May 2010
During the period of time that Kagan tried to keep military recruiters off the Harvard Law campus, she was allowing Saudi recruiters for what is called Sharia-Compliant Finance onto campus.
In two law review articles, Kagan attacks the Supreme Court for denying pro-abortion groups federal money.
20 May 2010
The director of the Clinton library admits that she probably will not be able to meet the deadline to get all Kagan-related materials to Congress. [D]
18 June 2010
Documentation shows that while in the Clinton White House, Kagan made comparisons between the KKK and NRA. [E]
23 June 2010
The percentage of Americans opposing Kagan drops… to 42%. [F]
Sunlight Labs (part of the Sunlight Foundation) releases Elena’s Inbox, all of Kagan’s email from her time in the Clinton White House. [F]
Summary
In short, I’m with Newbius: “I think it is time to oppose her with every fiber of my being and urge my Senators to do the same.” Obama has shown an utter unwillingness to choose a decent judge for any position– Goodwin Liu is the perfect example of this (reference: here, here, and here)– and I’d rather not see another Sotomayor on the Court.
Note: the title of this post comes from Robb.
References:
[A] Sebastian, 9 April 2010.
[B] John Lott, 10 May 2010.
[C} John Lott, 11 May 2010.
[D] John Lott, 20 May 2010.
[E] John Lott, 18 June 2010.
[F] Instapundit, 23 June 2010.
