# Obama nominates Elena Kagan for Supreme Court **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 7, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669 "2010-05-07T18:56:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/181 "2010-06-29T19:10:58Z")
And your point is…? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/182 "2010-06-29T19:34:29Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > And your point is…? Senator Feinstein seems oddly refreshed now. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/183 "2010-06-29T19:54:57Z")
Who cares what Dianne Feinstein thinks? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/184 "2010-06-29T20:00:18Z")
Mr. Feinstein? ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/185 "2010-06-29T20:00:55Z")
Seeing as she is one of the people responsible for the (almost inevitable) confirmation of future Justice Kagan, I’d say her opinion is a little relevant. Probably more so than whether posters to a message board think Kagan’s free speech waffling in the past is relevant. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/186 "2010-06-29T20:16:08Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Senator Feinstein seems oddly refreshed now. Helluva point there. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/187 "2010-06-29T20:24:19Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Who cares what Dianne Feinstein thinks? So let’s get this straight… in a discussion about the confirmation of Kagan, no one cares what a Senator on the Judiciary committee thinks? A Senator who is responsible for deciding whether or not to proceed to vote in the full Senate on her confirmation? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/188 "2010-06-29T20:24:57Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Senator Feinstein seems oddly refreshed now. How do you know she didn’t find the other guy’s lack of judicial experience similarly refreshing? She certainly made mention that it wasn’t a deal breaker; do you have a cite to back up your implication that Sen. Feinstein feels markedly different about the two nominees that will better support yet another of your tired attempts to portray liberal hypocrisy, or is this all you have? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/189 "2010-06-29T20:30:02Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So let’s get this straight… in a discussion about the confirmation of Kagan, no one cares what a Senator on the Judiciary committee thinks? A Senator who is responsible for deciding whether or not to proceed to vote in the full Senate on her confirmation? Where—thank God—her fate will be decided by the \*other \*99 Senators who will cast their votes with unblemished objectivity, liberated from the pernicious influence of partisan ideology… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/190 "2010-06-29T20:31:45Z")
> [@](#): > > And your point is…? I think Bricker is implying that there is a contradiction between what Senator Feinstein said about Estrada and what she said about Kagan. But as he himself posted, what the Senator said about Estrada was _“we have no record of judicial decision-making to examine. **This is not dispositive in itself** , but it is the first area where we find no record to help us in our decision”_. So the Senator was saying that Senate needs some basis to review a nominee’s views of the law. One potential method would be a judicial record but she explictly points out there are other alternative methods. So a nominee with no judicial experience but having some other equivalent documented legal record might be reviewable. A candidate with no documented legal record would not. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/191 "2010-06-29T20:40:12Z")
Believe it or not, [now the Pubs are bashing Kagan over her association with **Thurgood Marshall.**](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h6FlOApxiNud4gJ6OmuRTVhjHV9wD9GL2SJO1) :rolleyes: (She clerked for him once.) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/192 "2010-06-29T20:50:47Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Dianne Feinstein, 2003, on Miguel Estrada: > > Dianne Feinstein, yesterday: Unless you can show where the Judiciary Committee has not been granted access to a portion of Kagan’s writing, I don’t see your point. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/193 "2010-06-29T21:36:42Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > So let’s get this straight… in a discussion about the confirmation of Kagan, no one cares what a Senator on the Judiciary committee thinks? A Senator who is responsible for deciding whether or not to proceed to vote in the full Senate on her confirmation? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense… It’s not important beyond whether or not she will vote to confirm, which she will. Unless **Bricker** is trying to argue that she should vote against Kagan’s confirmation then I don’t see what relevance his post has to the hearings or to Kagan’s confirmation. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/194 "2010-06-29T22:44:16Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I see that she has adopted the Sotomayor style of speaking…extremely…slowly…like…she’s…talking…to…children. From [CNN](http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/29/kagan-hearings-nominee-set-to-answer-the-big-questions/?hpt=T1): > [@](#): > > [Updated at 9:06 a.m.] Behind the scenes: Sources close to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan say she was told by White House aides preparing her for the hearings to speak slowly. At her hearings last year for the solicitor general post, she was cautioned about talking too fast. They also advised her to pause for a second or two before answering her question, to help her organize her thoughts and not react so spontaneously. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/195 "2010-06-29T23:14:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Unless you can show where the Judiciary Committee has not been granted access to a portion of Kagan’s writing, I don’t see your point. The usual claim of evidence, at long last, of Liberal Hypocrisy! Gotcha now, lefties! We knew it all along, see, there’s the proof! Except for the usual something else … ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/196 "2010-06-29T23:29:04Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It’s not important beyond whether or not she will vote to confirm, which she will. Unless **Bricker** is trying to argue that she should vote against Kagan’s confirmation then I don’t see what relevance his post has to the hearings or to Kagan’s confirmation. No, he’s just pointing out her partisanship-- exactly what you do all the time, except when it occurs on the right. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/197 "2010-06-30T00:42:44Z")
I don’t think partisanship in the Senate is anything that requires pointing out. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/198 "2010-06-30T00:50:39Z")
Yeah, it’s usually glaringly obvious these days. “Ooo, look, the Sun!” ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/199 "2010-06-30T01:42:41Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Unless you can show where the Judiciary Committee has not been granted access to a portion of Kagan’s writing, I don’t see your point. Really? That’s your honest answer to those two statements? “It’s refreshing,” vs “So we have no record of judicial decision-making to examine,” are really just about the same, are they? Well, I guess I’ll let that analysis stand as a testament to liberal honesty, then. Fair enough. “The two statements show no particular bias,” is as honest as a liberal can be. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669/200 "2010-06-30T01:43:56Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Will there be any meaningful pushback from the Left over her? > > I just read Elie Mystal’s (Above the Law blogger) [account of his Civ Pro](http://abovethelaw.com/2010/05/elena-kagan-and-me-one-semester-of-civ-pro-with-the-new-scotus-nominee/) class with Professor Kagan. I like her more every day! OT, but how dare he criticize the Socratic method? Law school is not education, it’s _training._ Embarrassing people who aren’t prepared is important indoctrination in the ethic. (Sorry. Being sarcastic. I tend to when people talk about their experiences with inflexible tradition, then shrug and say, “eh, whadya gonna do?”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-nominates-elena-kagan-for-supreme-court/538669.md?page=11)