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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Dos Equis on March 15, 2010, 05:29:59 PM

Title: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on March 15, 2010, 05:29:59 PM
Should be an issue in November, but I doubt we hear much about it (just like the last election):

Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?

Remember last week's little dust-up between Chief Justice John Roberts and the Obama White House?

That will look like a frat party compared to the battle over the next Supreme Court opening.

We should know soon whether there will be one. Justice John Paul Stevens, who turns 90 years old on April 20, tells The New Yorker magazine he will probably decide whether to retire next month as well.

"Well, I still have options," Stevens said to reporter Jeffrey Toobin. "When I decided to just hire one clerk, three of my four clerks last year said they'd work for me next year if I wanted them to. So I have my options still. And then I'll have to decide soon."

Toobin writes: "On March 8th, he told me that he would make up his mind in about a month."

Stevens is considered the leader of the court's liberal wing, even though he was nominated by Republican President Gerald Ford back in 1975. In the three-and-a-half decades since, American politics -- and the politics surrounding the Supreme Court -- have shifted to the point where Stevens' style of moderate Republicanism is now considered closer to the Democrats.

Obama's first high court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, won confirmation without too much trouble. A second court fight could be tougher, especially with Republicans threatening legislative retaliation if Democrats use reconciliation to pass a health care bill. And remember the GOP has just enough senators to stage a filibuster. And it's an election year.

In last week's kerfuffle, Roberts questioned whether justices should attend the annual State of the Union speech, given Obama's criticism this year of a recent court ruling and the resulting cheers by fellow Democrats.

It's a good bet Roberts won't attend the 2011 State of the Union. But will a new Obama-appointed justice be there instead?

http://www.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/03/obama-and-the-supreme-court-the-next-big-brawl/1
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 03, 2010, 04:58:42 PM
Justice Stevens says he'll retire in Obama's term
Posted 4/3/2010
by Charles Dharapak, AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens says he "will surely" retire while President Barack Obama is still in office, giving the president the opportunity to maintain the high court's ideological balance.

Stevens said in newspaper interviews on the Web Saturday that he will decide soon on the timing of his retirement, whether it will be this year or next. Stevens, the leader of the court's liberals, turns 90 this month and is the oldest justice.

His departure would give Obama his second nomination to the court, enabling him to ensure there would continue to be at least four liberal-leaning justices. The high court is often split 5 to 4 on major cases, with the vote of moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy often deciding which side prevails.

"I will surely do it while he's still president," Stevens told The Washington Post.

But Stevens, who was named to the court by Republican President Gerald R. Ford in 1975, says he still loves the job, and says he continues to write the first draft of his own opinions.

Stevens says if it ever gets to point where he stopped doing that, it would be a sign he wasn't up to the job anymore.

Stevens is the second-oldest justice in the court's history, after Oliver Wendell Holmes. He is the seventh-longest-serving justice, with more than 34 years on the court.

Another liberal, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, had surgery last year for early-stage pancreatic cancer. While Ginsburg has been her usual energetic self, including frequent speaking engagements and a teaching stint in Europe, long-term survival rates for pancreatic cancer are low.

Ginsburg, 77, has said she intends to serve into her early 80s, and she has hired her clerks for the court term that begins in October 2010.

Justices are reluctant to retire in bunches, mainly because they want the nine-member court as close to full strength as possible.

Stevens also is nearing two longevity records. When he joined the court, he replaced the longest-serving justice, William O. Douglas, and would need to serve until mid-July 2012 to top that service record. He would surpass Holmes as the oldest sitting justice if he were to remain on the court until Feb. 24, 2011.

"I do have to fish or cut bait, just for my own personal peace of mind and also in fairness to the process," Stevens told The New York Times. "The president and the Senate need plenty of time to fill a vacancy."

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Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: 24KT on April 04, 2010, 03:07:09 AM
"The title is misleading if this is talking about some court in Canada America (I didn't read the story)."

What ignorant jackasses some people can be.  :-\
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 04, 2010, 09:16:07 AM
"The title is misleading if this is talking about some court in Canada America (I didn't read the story)."

What ignorant jackasses some people can be.  :-\

LOL.  Well we all can't have a 160 IQ like you Einstein. 

And yes, the United States Supreme Court is relevant.  The Canada "supreme court" is not.  Nobody cares who sits on the Canada "supreme court." 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: JohnC1908 on April 04, 2010, 09:24:26 AM
If Obama had his way there would be one branch of govt.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: George Whorewell on April 04, 2010, 09:35:09 AM
LOL.  Well we all can't have a 160 IQ like you Einstein. 

And yes, the United States Supreme Court is relevant.  The Canada "supreme court" is not.  Nobody cares who sits on the Canada "supreme court." 


LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO I'm sure that Jag was fooled into clicking on this thread because she thought that Prez Obama was going to have a brawl with the Canadian Supreme Court. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 04, 2010, 11:58:05 AM
If Obama had his way there would be one branch of govt.

I just hope doesn't get the opportunity to do too much damage before 2012.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 04, 2010, 11:58:27 AM

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO I'm sure that Jag was fooled into clicking on this thread because she thought that Prez Obama was going to have a brawl with the Canadian Supreme Court. 

 :D
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: 24KT on April 04, 2010, 10:59:08 PM

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO I'm sure that Jag was fooled into clicking on this thread because she thought that Prez Obama was going to have a brawl with the Canadian Supreme Court. 

You wish!
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 05, 2010, 05:23:08 AM
We are probably going to get an asian lefty for the court. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: LurkerNoMore on April 06, 2010, 07:41:17 AM
We are probably going to get an asian lefty for the court. 

Or a blaque.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: BM OUT on April 06, 2010, 07:52:53 AM
Either way,its a super lib replacing a super lib.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 09, 2010, 11:06:08 PM
Guessing Game Begins Over Obama Pick for Stevens' Supreme Court Seat
By Lee Ross  - FOXNews.com
   
U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan (l), and Judge Diane Pamela Wood of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (r) are two of the leading candidates to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. (AP)

Elena Kagan and Diane Wood are hardly household names but in the days ahead reports will invariably come out about "short lists" and names of people most Americans have never heard of as possible replacements for retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

Even before President Obama announces his selection, Kagan, Wood and several others will undoubtedly be given an in-depth and very public biographical examination.

Friday's announcement that Stevens will soon retire is merely the official announcement of a decision most Supreme Court observers expected. Otherwise obscure prognostication efforts by journalists and other court-watchers now turn to identifying his replacement. Obama is said to have about 10 names on his short list.
 
The top parlor game questions include whether Obama will nominate a fire-brand, hard core liberal who will energize the left and further enrage conservatives. Or maybe he will select someone perceived as a moderate who will breeze through the confirmation process.
 
"The timing, if it's going to be next summer, that may put the president in a position where he can't do somebody quite as controversial as he might otherwise have done because of the elections in the fall," lawyer Maureen Mahoney told an audience at the Smithsonian late last year. "He may have to moderate just a little bit more."

The timeline for selecting a new candidate is weeks, say White House aides. The confirmation team will work largely the same as it did when Sotomayor was nominated last year. White House Counsel Bob Bauer, who called Obama to inform the president of Stevens' decision, and the nominations team that includes Ron Klain and Cynthia Hogan, who have many years of experience working on both sides of Supreme Court nominations, will run the nomination process.

As he said when he nominated Sotomayor, Obama on Friday vowed to select a jurist with a "keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people."


"It will also be someone who, like Justice Stevens, knows that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens," he said.

The speculation on who will replace Stevens was going on long before the justice sent his resignation letter to Obama. The topic of Obama's second high court nomination came up during the battle over his first.

"It wouldn't at all surprise me if some of the very same people were back in the Oval Office," White House Chief of Staff David Axelrod said at the time Sotomayor beat out several also-rans.

Some of those people would include Appellate Court Judge Diane Wood, Solicitor General Elena Kagan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. In recent months most attention has been focused on Wood and Kagan.
 
Wood is well known in legal circles for her strong opinions on the Chicago-based Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. She was also part of the faculty at Chicago Law School when Obama taught constitutional law.  She is very familiar to Stevens who is responsible for overseeing the Seventh Circuit and is a Chicago native, though that connection would unlikely be a decisive factor into her selection.
 
If Wood is the pick -- or perhaps one of the many law professors perceived as liberals like Pam Karlan or Kathleen Sullivan --then the summer confirmation fight will be as explosive as ever, especially when the abortion issue enters the discussion. Wood has dissented against bans on partial-birth abortion.

Kagan is the former dean of the Harvard Law School and is well-regarded for her performance there in controlling a fractious faculty and reaching out to conservatives. She has already successfully navigated through the Senate confirmation process to become solicitor general.

But Kagan is also something of an unknown entity because she has never been a judge and as a result has a thin paper trail of past positions. She was also faulted by the group "Americans United for Life" for having criticized a high court ruling restricting federal funds on family planning.
 
In his Rose Garden remarks Friday, Obama said President Gerald Ford picked Stevens because he was "brilliant, non-ideological, pragmatic, and committed above all to justice, integrity and the rule of law."

The selection after the Watergate scandal was Ford's attempt to stay away from a divisive fight.
 
The most likely "consensus" pick that Obama could make in the Ford-Stevens model is Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. He was appointed to the appellate court by President Bill Clinton and is well-regarded for reaching out to his conservative colleagues to reach rulings.

It also doesn't hurt that two of Garland's former clerks now work in the Office of White House Counsel.

Of course, the president is free to select anyone he wants and speculation will likely run rampant in the weeks to come. 

Here is Fox News' assessment of the possible selections:
 
TIER ONE:
 
Diane Wood, 7th Circuit Court judge 
 
Elena Kagan, U.S. solicitor general
 
TIER TWO:
 
Merrick Garland, Judge, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
 
Leah Ward Sears, former Chief Justice of Georgia Supreme Court.   
 
Kathleen Sullivan, professor and former dean of Stanford Law School
 
Cass Sunstein, Former Chicago and Harvard Law Professor, leads Obama administration's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
 
Pam Karlan, Stanford Law professor
 
Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security secretary

Jennifer Granholm, Michigan governor
 
TIER THREE:
 
Rosemary Barkett, 11th Circuit Court judge   
 
Fortunato Benavides,  5th Circuit Court judge
 
Christine Arguello, U.S. District Court judge, Denver
 
Ruben Castillo, Judge U. District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois
 
Karen Nelson Moore, 6th Circuit Court judge
 
Jose Cabranes, 2nd Circuit Court judge
 
David Tatel, D.C. Circuit Court judge

Deval Patrick, Massachusetts governor
 
Marsha Berzon, 9th Circuit Court judge
 
Eric Holder, U.S. attorney general
 
Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School professor
 
Kim Wardlaw, 9th Circuit Court judge
 
Seth Waxman, former solicitor general, lawyer at Wilmer Hale
 
Harold Koh, former dean of Yale Law School, State Department Counsel   
 
Ken Salazar, interior secretary
 
OBAMA'S COURT OF APPEALS NOMINEES
 
Judge David Hamilton,  6th Circuit
 
Judge Andre Davis, 4th Circuit
 
Judge Gerard Lynch, 2nd Circuit
 
Judge Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr., 3rd Circuit
 
Judge Beverly B. Martin, 11th Circuit
 
Jane Branstetter Stranch, 6th Circuit
 
Judge Thomas Vanaskie, 3rd Circuit
 
Justice Barbara Milano Keenan, 4th Circuit
 
Judge Danny Chin, 2nd Circuit
 
Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson, 1st Circuit
 
Judge Albert Diaz, 4th Circuit
 
Judge James Wynn, 4th Circuit
 
Judge Robert N. Chatigny, 2nd Circuit

Goodwin Liu: 9th Circuit
 
Scott M. Matheson, Jr., 10th Circuit

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/09/guessing-game-begins-obama-pick-stevens-supreme-court-seat/
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 10, 2010, 03:30:00 AM
I would love to see sunstein or napolitano.  What a complete mess that would turn in to.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 10, 2010, 09:36:15 AM
Potential Obama Nominees for the Supreme Court
Friday, 09 Apr 2010 

Sketches of potential candidates to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, listed alphabetically, with pros and cons on their possible nominations:

Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Garland was born in Chicago in 1952, and was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1997 by President Bill Clinton. A Harvard law graduate, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Brennan 1978-1979 before entering government service as a special assistant U.S. attorney general. Garland left the Justice Department for private practice in Washington, D.C. in 1981, where he stayed until 1993. He took a three-year break during that time to work as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. He was promoted to deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's criminal division in 1993 and became principal associate deputy U.S. attorney general in 1994, where he stayed until his court nomination.

Pro: Well respected by conservative and liberal experts following his management of the investigation of the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building and subsequent prosecution of bomber Timothy McVeigh. Moderate legal positions would not likely lead to filibuster threats from Republican senators.

Con: Moderate legal positions would not excite hard-core liberals with congressional elections coming up this year. Was not a finalist in the White House's last search for a Supreme Court nominee, which produced Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Obama may want to put another woman or minority on the court, instead.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Granholm was born in 1959 in Vancouver, British Columbia. She got her law degree from Harvard University in 1987 and entered the political world by working as a full-time aide for the Michigan campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988. She got into the legal world in 1988 through her job as an executive assistant for criminal justice issues in the Wayne County executive office. Granholm started work as a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit in 1990, where she stayed until her appointment as Wayne County, Mich., corporation counsel in 1995. She became Michigan's attorney general in 1999, and was became governor in January 2003.

Pro: Would bring nonjudicial experience to the Supreme Court, which several senators say is needed. Would bring the number of female Supreme Court justices to three, an all-time high. Would bring political and prosecutorial experience.

Con: No judicial experience. Has said nomination would be a great opportunity, but "I just don't think that's going to happen." Was not a finalist in the White House's last search for a nominee. Questions about her stewardship of Michigan, which was hit hard during the recession, could come up.

Elena Kagan, U.S. solicitor general.

Kagan was born in 1960 in New York City. She received a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1986 before working as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Kagan went into private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1989 until leaving to become a professor at University of Chicago law school in 1991. She joined the Clinton administration as an associate counsel to President Bill Clinton in 1995 and climbed the ladder to deputy assistant to Clinton for domestic policy and deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council in 1997. Clinton nominated her to the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1999 but she never received a hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee. She became a professor at Harvard Law School since 1999, and became dean in 2003. She was confirmed as solicitor general in 2009.

Pro: Well respected by conservative and liberal lawyers after time at Harvard Law School. One conservative activist last year called Kagan "less extreme than most of President Obama's leading candidates for the Supreme Court." Already known as "Tenth Justice" because the solicitor general is the executive branch's chief lawyer before the high court. Was a finalist in the White House's last search for a nominee and was interviewed by the president. Would bring the number of female justices to three.

Con: No judicial experience. Thirty-one Republicans voted against her for solicitor general. Republicans refused to hold a hearing for her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1999, a seat that went to eventual Chief Justice John Roberts. Got first Supreme Court argument experience in 2009 as solicitor general. Her stand against military recruitment at Harvard Law School because of the armed forces' "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is sure to be a talking point against her.

Harold Hongju Koh, legal advisor to the State Department.

Koh, who has been the legal adviser to the State Department since March 2009, was born in Boston in 1954. He got his law degree from Harvard University before serving as law clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun in 1981-82. He went into private practice in Washington, D.C., for a year after his Supreme Court clerkship before being hired on at the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department. He left government to become a law professor at Yale University in 1985, where he stayed until he became assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor in 1998. He returned to Yale in 2001, and became Yale's law school dean in 2001. He left Yale to work for the State Department after Obama was elected.

Pro: Would make history as the first Asian-American Supreme Court nominee. Would excite hard-core liberals looking to swing the courts to the left. Would bring nonjudicial experience to the Supreme Court.

Con: No judicial experience. Liberal stances would guarantee a fierce confirmation fight with Republicans in the Senate, who have enough votes to filibuster a nominee if they want.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Napolitano was born in 1957 in New York City and got her law degree at the University of Virginia in 1983. She then clerked for Mary Schroeder at 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco for a year before going into private practice in Phoenix. Napolitano was named U.S. attorney for Arizona in 1993, and stayed in that position until she returned to private practice in 1997. In 1999, she became Arizona's attorney general, a position she held until she was elected the state's governor in 2003. Obama tapped her to be head of the Homeland Security Department in 2009.

Pro: Was a finalist in the White House's last search for a nominee and was interviewed by the president. Would bring the number of female justices to three. Would bring nonjudicial experience to the Supreme Court. Would bring political and prosecutorial experience to the high court.

Con: No judicial experience. Nomination would bring questions about her comment that "the system worked" after the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253. She likely would also face criticism for a draft department threat assessment in 2009 that implied military veterans could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Patrick was born in 1956 in Chicago, and got his law degree from Harvard University in 1982. He went to work as a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1983 to 1986 before entering private practice. He stayed in the private sector except for a stint in 1994-97 at the Justice Department. As the Clinton administration's assistant attorney general for civil rights he led a massive federal investigation of church burnings throughout the South. Patrick left government to become chairman of Texaco Inc.'s Equality and Fairness Task Force, then was named vice president and general counsel for Texaco Inc. in 1999. He then became executive vice president and general counsel for The Coca-Cola Co. from 2001 to 2004 before winning the Massachusetts governorship as a Democrat in 2006.

Pro: Personal friend of Obama and like the president is a Chicagoan, Harvard Law School graduate and African-American. Would increase the number of black justices to two. Would bring political and prosecutorial experience to the high court.

Con: No judicial experience. Would face questions about the political and financial status of Massachusetts, which has a statewide health care plan similar to the nationwide plan just passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama.

Diane Pamela Wood of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

Wood was born in 1950 in Plainfield, N.J., and was nominated to the 7th Circuit by President Bill Clinton in 1995. She got her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law before clerking for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun from 1976-1977. She went to work as a lawyer-adviser in the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser from 1977-1978 before entering private practice in Washington, D.C. during 1978-1980. She became a professor at Georgetown University during 1980-1981, then became a professor at the University of Chicago from 1981-1995, where she also served as associate dean from 1989-1992. She re-entered government service at the Justice Department as special assistant to the associate attorney general during 1985-1987, and as the Antitrust Division's deputy assistant attorney general for international, appellate and policy matters from 1993-1995 before becoming a federal judge.

Pro: Was a finalist in the White House's last search for a nominee and was interviewed by the president. Would bring the number of female justices to three.

Con: Would ignite a battle over abortion rights during the confirmation process. Anti-abortion activists portray Wood as being hostile to their cause.

http://newsmax.com/Newsfront/Supreme-Court-Possible-Nominees/2010/04/09/id/355313
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Eyeball Chambers on April 10, 2010, 09:42:41 AM
(http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/blackhawks-confidential/judge-judy.jpg)
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: 240 is Back on April 10, 2010, 11:29:53 AM
johnathon turley is a name to watch
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 11, 2010, 12:15:25 PM
Barbour: Obama, Congress 'the most liberal' ever
Posted: April 11th, 2010

From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

(CNN) – As Washington girds itself for another Supreme Court confirmation battle, a prominent Republican is predicting that President Obama will use his second high court pick to try to push the court in as liberal a direction as possible – in a reflection of Democrats’ liberal tendencies.

Associate Justice John Paul Stevens announced Friday that he intends to step down later this year, stirring speculation about who Obama will appoint during a midterm election year when Democrats already appear to be facing a challenging political environment.

“The president’s going to appoint a liberal successor to Justice Stevens whose one of the most liberal members of the Supreme Court,” Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

Barbour added that he thought Obama is going to “appoint the most liberal person that he can and he thinks he can get confirmed. And that, that person will be a liberal. That’s just a fact.”

The former RNC chairman and current chairman of the Republican Governors Association told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley that the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation process will affect November’s midterm elections by reminding the public where Obama and the Democratically-controlled Congress sit on the political spectrum.

“Do I think it'll affect the election?,” he said. “Only to the sense that it reminds the American people of something they already know - that this is far and away the most liberal administration that we've ever had in the White House, and candidly, in the Congress.”

Barbour noted that historically both liberals and conservatives have used Supreme Court vacancies to stir up support and enthusiasm within their respective bases. But he said that Republicans may not need the extra boost that will likely come from a high court confirmation battle during a midterm election year.

“The good thing for Republicans right now is we’ve got plenty of energy,” Barbour told Crowley. “The policies of this administration and this Congress have energized our people.”

Asked whether Senate Republicans should oppose Obama’s nominee at all costs and risk taking on “the party of no” label being pushed by Democrats, Barbour was indifferent.

“I’m not worried about ‘the party of no,’ as long as we’re saying no to what the American people know are bad policies,” Barbour said. “The American people will reward you for trying to stop something they think is bad.”

But Barbour was quick to add that no one knows yet who the president will nominate to replace Justice Stevens.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/11/barbour-obama-congress-the-most-liberal-ever/?fbid=54YJ106g8kS
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 11, 2010, 10:37:12 PM
Unless he nominates a radical (unlikely), we'll probably hear a lot of bark with no bite. 

Senators signal bruising confirmation battle on Supreme Court nominee
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 11, 2010

Washington (CNN) -- Two leading senators on the Judiciary Committee, which will consider President Obama's upcoming Supreme Court nominee, signaled Sunday that a bruising fight is likely.

Committee chairman Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vermont, called the current conservative-leaning Supreme Court the most activist he had seen, while ranking Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama wouldn't rule out a filibuster if Obama nominates what the GOP perceives to be a liberal activist.

Appearing on the NBC program "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Leahy said Obama wants the replacement for retiring Justice John Paul Stevens to represent all Americans rather than any particular ideology.
Stevens, who will turn 90 on April 20 and has served nearly 35 years on the court, announced his resignation on Friday.

"This is a very, very activist court, the most activist court in my lifetime," Leahy said, citing the recent Supreme Court ruling that lifted restrictions on corporate spending on elections.

Leahy called for both parties to set aside politics and "stop listening to single-interest groups on the far right and left" in order to avoid a bitter confirmation process.

Video: Replacing Justice Stevens

Sessions responded that the current Supreme Court was not activist, but instead had "faithfully" tried to follow the Constitution.

Asked about a possible filibuster, Sessions said it would depend on the nominee.

"If it's somebody ... clearly outside the mainstream, then I think every power should be utilized to protect the Constitution," Sessions said.

Leahy said he doubted a GOP filibuster would occur, calling such a move the "lazy" way out of having to vote yes or no on a nominee.

Asked about a timetable, Leahy said he expected the confirmation process to be concluded by the end of summer and the new justice to be installed in time for the Supreme Court's new session next fall.

Other senators interviewed Sunday echoed Leahy's assessment that a filibuster was unlikely. On the ABC program "This Week," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said Obama was likely to select a strong candidate without any clear ideological ties.

"What you want is somebody who will follow the law, not make the law, not impose their ideology, if they're far right, far left, on the law itself," Schumer said. "If they're in the mainstream, you don't have to agree with all of their views to vote for them."

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, told the same program that he agreed with Schumer's assessment, saying: "What I object to and I think my colleagues would object to is somebody that comes in with preconceived notions about how particular cases should be decided."

"That's why I think both Chuck and I would agree that it is unlikely that there would be a filibuster, except if there is an extraordinary circumstance," Kyl said, but added in reference to a filibuster: "I'm never going to take it off the table."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/11/supreme.court.senate/index.html?hpt=T2
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 12, 2010, 04:52:25 PM
Hillary Clinton won't be Supreme Court nominee, White House says
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The White House says President Obama won't be nominating Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Supreme Court.

The idea emerged today when Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show that he'd heard Clinton's name mentioned in connection with the upcoming vacancy on the court. Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring this summer and Obama is reviewing candidates to succeed him.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters today that Obama has no intention of changing Clinton's job title.

Said Gibbs: "The president is going to keep her as his secretary of state."

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100412/BREAKING/100412023/Hillary+Clinton+won+t+be+Supreme+Court+nominee++White+House+says
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Skip8282 on April 12, 2010, 04:57:25 PM
Hillary Clinton won't be Supreme Court nominee, White House says
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The White House says President Obama won't be nominating Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Supreme Court.

The idea emerged today when Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show that he'd heard Clinton's name mentioned in connection with the upcoming vacancy on the court. Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring this summer and Obama is reviewing candidates to succeed him.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters today that Obama has no intention of changing Clinton's job title.

Said Gibbs: "The president is going to keep her as his secretary of state."

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100412/BREAKING/100412023/Hillary+Clinton+won+t+be+Supreme+Court+nominee++White+House+says


Personally, I think he wants somebody much younger, and maybe a little more liberal.  But younger for sure.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: George Whorewell on April 12, 2010, 05:01:17 PM
You cant just make anyone who went to law school a Supreme Court justice. Hillary failed the bar 3 times before passing it and has zero experience as a judge. There is no shot she would pass confirmation.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: 240 is Back on April 12, 2010, 05:04:04 PM
I think he nominates thune or Paul Ryan.

Remember how he neutralized the VERY strong 2012 threat in john huntsman by giving him a job?

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Skip8282 on April 12, 2010, 05:13:46 PM
I think he nominates thune or Paul Ryan.

Remember how he neutralized the VERY strong 2012 threat in john huntsman by giving him a job?




This is different.  I don't see him going from Sotomayer to Thune or Ryan.  This will have repercussions for decades to come.  He's going to want somebody much more liberal, IMO.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 12, 2010, 05:15:04 PM
You cant just make anyone who went to law school a Supreme Court justice. Hillary failed the bar 3 times before passing it and has zero experience as a judge. There is no shot she would pass confirmation.

They don't even have to be lawyers.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: 240 is Back on April 12, 2010, 05:32:00 PM
What qualifications are needed to become a US Supreme Court justice?
 
Answer

The Constitution of the United States establishes no requirements to be appointed a Justice on the Supreme Court. However, Presidents usually appoint people who have been lawyers or judges or in some way trained in the law.

Practical Considerations


•To be nominated for the position by the current President, and to be accepted and approved by the US Senate. Educational achievements required are not specified. Prior service in the US Court system is not required. Acceptance by the American Bar Association is not required. Just appoint them and approve them, and their job is secure for life.

•While Article III of the Constitution does not specify the qualifications required of a Supreme Court Justice, or specify the size of the court, it does empower Congress to create legislation or make collective decisions that result in de facto requirements.
•Because members of the Supreme Court must be experts on the Constitution, Constitutional law, and federal law, all past and present members of the Supreme Court have been attorneys.

Those who were commissioned before the mid- to late-19th century learned the law by studying and apprenticing with more experienced attorneys; states didn't mandate licensing until the 20th-century.

•Of the 111 Supreme Court members, only 46 have held degrees from accredited law schools; 18 attended law school, but never attained a degree; and 47 were self-taught and/or went through an apprenticeship.
•The first Justice to graduate from law school was Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Harvard class of 1832, appointed to the bench in 1851.
•The last sitting Justice without a formal law degree was Stanley Forman Reed, who served from 1938-1957.
•Today, nominees are judged by the quality of the law school attended and the extent of their experience on the bench. Twenty-two of the 47 degreed candidates graduated from Harvard or Yale, while a number of the remainder graduated from other T14 (Top 14) schools.
•On the current Court, five Justices went to Harvard, two to Yale, one to Columbia and one to Northwestern.
•Credentials have become so important over the last 50 years that, when Richard Nixon named Mildred Lillie and Hershel Friday as potential nominees for the Court in 1971, the American Bar Association objected on the grounds that they were unqualified for the position, and their names were withdrawn from the pool. The ABA also objected to President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, his personal attorney and White House counsel, to the bench in 2005.
•Public service and political connections also factor heavily into the nomination process. For example, all but one appointee, George Shiras, Jr. (served 1892-1903), has held public office or been a judge prior to nomination, and three-fifths of the nominees have been personal acquaintances of the President who nominated them.
•While the Constitution stipulates no minimum or maximum age for judicial service, most nominees are under the age of 60, to help ensure a long tenure on the court. Most are in their 40s or 50s when appointed. The youngest Justice ever seated was Joseph Story, at the age of 32, in 1812; the oldest at time of appointment was Charles Evan Hughes, who was 67, in 1930.
•Most of the 111 Supreme Court members have been white, male, protestants. The first Jewish Justice was Louis Brandeis, commissioned in 1916; the first of only two African-Americans was Thurgood Marshall, commissioned in 1967 (the second being Clarence Thomas, who replaced Marshall); the first of three females was Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, commissioned in 1981, and retired in 2006. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and new Justice Sonia Sotomayor are currently serving. In addition to being the only the third female member of the Court, Sonia Sotomayor is also the first Latina commissioned.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 12, 2010, 06:32:33 PM
Names added to Supreme Court short list
By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
April 12, 2010

Washington (CNN) -- A federal judge from Montana and the dean of Harvard's law school are among several names being added to the short list of potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, a government source said.

Sidney Thomas, a 14-year veteran on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, is being vetted by the White House, said the source, who has been regularly consulted in the selection process.

Two women who were not on other published lists of potential candidates are now being seriously considered.

Harvard Law school dean Martha Minow has been on the school's faculty since 1981. And Elizabeth Warren heads the Congressional Oversight Panel, which reviews government efforts to boost the shaky financial and private investment sector. Neither woman has judicial experience.

Sources close to the selection process said the new names represent an effort to expand what had been a short list of candidates, many of them left over after last year's court vacancy was filled by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Some White House officials have been urging the president to expand the list of possibles to include more non-judges and people with different backgrounds and from other regions of the country. All the current justices except the retiring John Paul Stevens are Ivy League law school graduates.

Thomas, who is white, was born in Bozeman, Montana, in 1953. He is little-known and has attracted little fanfare beyond the San Francisco, California-based court, which is considered the most liberal among the nation's 13 appeals courts.

Among rulings he authored was a 2006 decision in Nadarajah v. Gonzalez, in which Thomas concluded that the government illegally detained Ahilan Nadarajah for four years while the Justice Department appealed a grant of asylum. The man is a member of the Tamil ethnic minority and asserted that he was tortured and persecuted by members of the Sinhalese majority.

Minow is the daughter of former Federal Communications Commission head Newt Minow. She clerked for former Justice Thurgood Marshall. In her mid-50s, Minow replaced as dean the woman considered near the top of potential high court nominees, Elena Kagan, now solicitor general.

Warren is also a Harvard law professor. She has been a regular on the talk-show circuit, including CNN, to discuss the economy's effect on families. The Oklahoma native has also co-authored two books with her daughter.

One name mentioned by some analysts for years as a potential blockbuster choice has been all but ruled out for consideration.

Supporters of Hillary Clinton have long touted her credentials, but White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Monday that the president "thinks Secretary Clinton is doing an excellent job as secretary of state and wants her to remain in that position."

The White House has given no indication when Obama will name a successor to Stevens, who announced Friday that he will retire this year. Stevens has been on the high court nearly 35 years and leads the four-justice liberal bloc.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/12/scotus.justice.names/index.html?hpt=T1
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 13, 2010, 03:01:56 PM
Good move. 

Obama invites senators from both parties to discuss vacancy
Posted: April 13th, 2010

Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama has invited senators from both parties to a meeting to talk about the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy, the White House announced Tuesday.

Obama invited the Senate's majority and minority leaders - Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - as well as the Democratic chairman and ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee - Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the White House said in a statement.

The meeting to discuss the opening created by the upcoming retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens will be on April 21 at the White House, according to the statement.


http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/?fbid=XPBeW4MfwYo
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 13, 2010, 03:13:58 PM
obama to everyone else "I won" 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 13, 2010, 03:26:18 PM
obama to everyone else "I won" 

lol.  Just a tad cynical?   :D
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 14, 2010, 11:02:13 AM
Sources: Obama expected to make high court pick by early May
Posted: April 14th, 2010

From CNN Supreme Court Producer Bill Mears
 
The search for a new Supreme Court justice is underway, and sources tell CNN a nominee is expected by early May.
Washington (CNN) – The White House search for a new Supreme Court justice is progressing smoothly, say government sources close to the selection process, who expect President Obama to make a decision by early May.

The three favorites for the seat continue to receive the most attention among the small group of officials in charge of narrowing a "short list" of about ten names. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, and federal appeals judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland currently have the edge over others being considered, said those sources.

–Administration sources say Elizabeth Warren - the financial industry watchdog - has been quietly taken off the short list, but is still among a larger group of candidates being considered by the White House. She is now getting much less scrutiny than some of the favorites.


–Judge Sidney Thomas, a Montana native who sits on the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was a surprise to many court watchers and has held has a fairly low profile over the years. But sources say he has several high profile champions of his candidacy. Thomas was recommended for the judgeship by Sen. Max Baucus, who has publicly and privately pushed his candidacy. While in private practice, Thomas volunteered for the senator's first campaign. Another booster is Baucus' former chief of staff Jim Messina, who now works in the White House as deputy chief of staff. And Ian Bassin, now deputy associate counsel to the president, used to clerk for Thomas four years ago. The Counsel's Office is spearheading the Court nomination.

–Another top candidate from last year's high court vacancy is again on the short list. Justice Carolos Moreno of the California Supreme Court was moved up to the list of finalists. The 61-year-old judge is the only Democrat and only Hispanic on the seven-member bench. Some legal sources believe Moreno's name may be simple political outreach to the Hispanic community, building on the successful confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor in 2009. Moreno also has the strong support of the state's two Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

–Gov. Deval Patrick remains not interested in a high court job, telling supporters over the weekend he is focused on his re-election bid. He has previously downplayed his chances, but has supporters inside the White House. He and the president are old friends.

–Others removing their name from consideration are Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, both members of the Judiciary Committee that will hold confirmation hearings for the nominee. Klobuchar's chances were considered slim all along, since a Republican governor would name her temporary replacement in the Senate. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is also out of the running, said government sources.

–Leah Ward Sears, the former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court is a legal pioneer as the first African-American woman on the court. She now is in private practice in Atlanta. Her professional resume has a number of noteworthy "firsts," combined with what one source called a "sparkling" personality, and an inspiring personal rise from humble roots . But officials privately acknowledge they are aware of some unease among liberals. A recognized expert on family law, Sears has attracted controversy for her involvement in the Institute of American Values, which supports "traditional" marriage, and whose founder opposes gay marriage. The 54-year-old Sears is overseas this week speaking on behalf of the group. She was also fined in 2007 for violating state ethics laws when accepting improper campaign contributions. She is close friends with fellow Savannah-native Justice Clarence Thomas, whom she invited to her swearing-in as state chief justice.

Justice John Paul Stevens announced last Friday his intention to retire from the court after nearly 35 years on the bench.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/14/sources-obama-expected-to-make-high-court-pick-by-early-may/?fbid=XPBeW4MfwYo#more-99611
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 16, 2010, 04:29:33 PM
Supreme Court justices by president
April 9, 2010

A Supreme Court justice is appointed for life, meaning the High Court's turnover is not great. Take a look at Supreme Court justices nominated by presidents since 1975.

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)
- John Paul Stevens (1975)

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
Carter did not appoint anyone

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
- Sandra Day O'Connor (1981)
- Antonin Scalia (1986),
- Anthony M. Kennedy (1987)

George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)
- David Souter (1990)
- Clarence Thomas (1991)

Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993)
- Stephen G. Breyer (1994)

George W. Bush (2001-2009)
- John Roberts (2005)
- Samuel Alito (2005)

Barack Obama (2009-present)
- Sonia Sotomayor (2009)

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/09/presidents.nominees/index.html
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 18, 2010, 11:20:51 AM
Bill Clinton: Look Beyond Judges for High Court
Sunday, 18 Apr 2010

Bill Clinton says someone who hasn't been a judge should be considered for the Supreme Court.

But scratch the idea of the ex-president or his wife as a justice.

Clinton suggested that President Barack Obama follow a model that Clinton used when he tried unsuccessfully to persuade then-New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to agree to be nominated to the high court.

Justice John Paul Stevens' recent decision to retire hands Obama a second chance to shape the court.

Clinton, who has not been a judge, said that at 63, told ABC's "This Week" that he's too old to be considered, much as he might enjoy serving on the Supreme Court. He said his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, also might have been interested in past years, but not now.

Bill Clinton, who also had two court vacancies during his first years in office, ended up nominating two federal appeals court judges, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Ginsburg was 60 and Breyer was in his early 50s.

The former president urged Obama to pick someone around 50 years old.

Obama's Democratic predecessor in the White House says Cuomo and Mitchell, who had been a judge before serving in the Senate, would have made good justices, but both turned him down. He said he hopes Obama takes a look at someone who hasn't been a judge.

Among those reported to be under consideration, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 49, has never been a judge.

Others who fit that description are Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, 52, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, 51 and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, 53.

Last year, Obama chose another federal appellate judge, Sonia Sotomayor.

http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/bill-Clinton-Supreme-Court/2010/04/18/id/356059
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: 240 is Back on April 18, 2010, 02:46:13 PM
I think Drinking with Bob would be an awesome addition to the Supreme Court.

A dose of common sense.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 19, 2010, 05:52:53 AM
Another Bull Dyke who looks like Jaba the Hut.  What is it with Liberals and their love of fat ugly nasty lesibians?
________________________ ________________________ ________________________ _____ 

Obama’s potential Supreme Court pick banned military recruiting at Harvard Law. Peter Beinart on how that stance has damaged liberals—and why conservatives are right to bash her for it.
www.dailybeast.com

President Obama is about to nominate someone for the Supreme Court. On the day he or she is unveiled, conservatives will announce that they are approaching the selection with an open mind. Ten minutes later they will declare, more in sadness than anger, that the nominee has the judicial philosophy of Chairman Mao and the temperament of Dennis Rodman. Ten minutes after that, liberals will rise en masse to defend the nominee as wise, brilliant and humane, a person who restores our faith in humankind. And the kabuki theater will continue like that all summer long.

I can’t blame my fellow liberals for playing along; if the other side fires, we have to fire back. But there’s one exception. If Solicitor General Elana Kagan gets the nod, conservatives will beat the hell out of her for opposing military recruitment on campus when she was dean of Harvard Law School. And liberals should concede the point; the conservatives will be right.

Barring the military from campus is a bit like barring the president or even the flag. It’s more than a statement of criticism; it’s a statement of national estrangement.

“I abhor the military’s discriminatory recruitment policy,” wrote Kagan in 2003. It is “a profound wrong—a moral injustice of the first order.” So far, so good. Not allowing openly gay and lesbian Americans into the military is a grave moral injustice and it is a disgrace that so many Republicans defend the policy to this day. But the response that Kagan favoredbanning military recruiters from campus—was stupid and counterproductive. I think it showed bad judgment.

The United States military is not Procter and Gamble. It is not just another employer. It is the institution whose members risk their lives to protect the country. You can disagree with the policies of the American military; you can even hate them, but you can’t alienate yourself from the institution without in a certain sense alienating yourself from the country. Barring the military from campus is a bit like barring the president or even the flag. It’s more than a statement of criticism; it’s a statement of national estrangement.

• Linda Hirshman: Sexual Orientation and the Supreme CourtI doubt that’s how Kagan or her fellow administrators meant it. But it is certainly the way it has been received. It’s no coincidence that most Ivy League schools banned ROTC in the late 1960s, at exactly the moment liberalism was committing hara-kiri. The perception that liberals are unpatriotic stems from that moment in time and from actions just like that. And while the charge is and always has been unfair, banning recruiters from campus does suggest a somewhat impoverished understanding of patriotism. Yes, dissent is patriotic, as liberals love to declaim, but assent is an important part of patriotism too. Saying you show your love for your country only through criticism is like saying you show your love for your spouse only through criticism. It isn’t likely to go over well.

And it hasn’t. Banning the military from elite campuses hasn’t only helped generations of Nixons, Atwaters and Roves beat Democrats at the polls; it has also helped create a military that stands firmly on the red side of the culture war. As Michael Neiberg shows in his 2001 book, Making Citizen-Soldiers, the Ivy League administrators of the early 20th Century believed ROTC served a fundamentally liberal purpose. It infused the military with the spirit of intellectual openness found in the academy and thus “prevent[ed] the creation” of a narrow, isolated “military caste.” Today, thanks to administrators like Kagan, however, the military recruits mostly on the campuses of the South and West, and thus, the officer corps has become overwhelmingly Republican. The best way for Ivy League liberals to remedy anti-gay discrimination in the military—and to infuse it with liberal values more generally—would be to encourage the military to recruit from among their ranks, as those administrators urge a century ago. Instead, actions like Kagan’s have helped make the Ivy League and the military separate and sometimes hostile worlds, and both have suffered as a result.

Were Kagan to be passed over for the Supreme Court because of her views on military recruitment, many liberals would likely consider it unfair. But it would make ambitious Ivy League administrators think twice because succumbing to the left-wing mindlessness that sometimes prevails on campus. And it would further one of President Obama’s signature efforts: his bid to draw America’s almost half-century long culture war to a close. If that requires conceding that conservatives are right about something, so be it. I’m sure it won’t happen again anytime soon.

Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. His new book, The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, will be published by HarperCollins in June. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

For more of The Daily Beast, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 19, 2010, 11:46:38 AM
Sounds like she is the frontrunner. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 19, 2010, 11:47:24 AM
Sounds like she is the frontrunner. 

She looks like Rufus the Butcher down the street.   
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 19, 2010, 03:57:53 PM
She looks like Rufus the Butcher down the street.   

lol   :D
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: George Whorewell on April 19, 2010, 04:03:20 PM
Ughh... She looks like NJ Gov. elect Chris Christie in drag
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 20, 2010, 06:45:11 AM
Wise Latina woman meet First Homosexual Lesbian Justice?
 

Solicitor General Elena Kagan


The White House ripped CBS News on Thursday for publishing an online column by a blogger who made assertions about the sexual orientation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, widely viewed as a leading candidate for the Supreme Court.-- Howard Kurtz
The White house vehemently denies rumors that their leading candidate for replacing Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, is lesbian. (Not that anything is wrong with being Lesbian) But you’d think that there was if a homosexual was ever nominated to the Supreme Court and the White house attempted to hide the fact until that person was confirmed. (see story)

Just think of the slap in the face of all Homosexuals if one of their own had to be snuck onto the court. Where’s the pride in that?


Ben Domenech, a former Bush administration aide and Republican Senate staffer, wrote that President Obama would "please" much of his base by picking the "first openly gay justice." An administration official, who asked not to be identified discussing personal matters, said Kagan is not a lesbian.—Howard Kutz

First CBS refused to retract the story but after coordinated attacks against the Broadcast company and the poster of the original story by Anita Dunn, a former White House communications director who is working with the administration on the high court vacancy. You remember Ms. Dunn who lost her White house post when she said that one of her favorite political philosophers is Mao Tse Tung.

Dunn smeared the broadcast company and Mr. Domenech by stating that they had become enablers of people posting lies on their site. She further denigrated the broadcast company by remarking, “[this] tells us where the journalistic standards of CBS are in 2010."


A White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, said he complained to CBS because the column "made false charges." Domenech later added an update to the post: "I have to correct my text here to say that Kagan is apparently still closeted -- odd, because her female partner is rather well known in Harvard circles."

After such reporting, Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic picked up the story as rumors among gay rights activist and social conservatives that Elena Kagan, is lesbian.


Solicitor General Elena Kagan, the woman who tops President Obama's short list for the Supreme Court, is the subject of a baffling whisper campaign among both gay rights activists and social conservatives: those whispering assume she's gay, and they want her -- or someone -- the media! -- to acknowledge it.—Marc Ambinder(see article)

Will the White house make the Kagan story an embarrassing spectacle for all homosexuals by attempting to hide the fact that they are ashamed that their nominee is Lesbian if in fact she is?
Posted by Alaphiah at 3:30 AM 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 20, 2010, 11:27:26 AM
Is she married?
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 20, 2010, 11:28:25 AM
Yeah, to the refrigerator and Salvation Army clothing bin. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 20, 2010, 11:43:31 AM
Doh!  That's just wrong.  lol . . . .
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 20, 2010, 11:45:18 AM
Doh!  That's just wrong.  lol . . . .

Bro - I'm taking no prisoners anymore.   ;D
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: George Whorewell on April 21, 2010, 07:20:22 AM
I have to say this about Obama-- when it comes to looking like your typical liberal he is a needle in the haystack. Every single prominent liberal in politics looks like something out of a horror movie. It's almost like the more repulsive they look, the further they are likely to progrress in terms of political clout.

David Waxman may be the worst of all time though.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 07:22:28 AM
I have to say this about Obama-- when it comes to looking like your typical liberal he is a needle in the haystack. Every single prominent liberal in politics looks like something out of a horror movie. It's almost like the more repulsive they look, the further they are likely to progrress in terms of political clout.

David Waxman may be the worst of all time though.

Like Rush says - the Democrat party is like the Star Wars bar scene.

 

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: BM OUT on April 21, 2010, 07:28:53 AM
What qualifications are needed to become a US Supreme Court justice?
 
Answer

The Constitution of the United States establishes no requirements to be appointed a Justice on the Supreme Court. However, Presidents usually appoint people who have been lawyers or judges or in some way trained in the law.

Practical Considerations


•To be nominated for the position by the current President, and to be accepted and approved by the US Senate. Educational achievements required are not specified. Prior service in the US Court system is not required. Acceptance by the American Bar Association is not required. Just appoint them and approve them, and their job is secure for life.

•While Article III of the Constitution does not specify the qualifications required of a Supreme Court Justice, or specify the size of the court, it does empower Congress to create legislation or make collective decisions that result in de facto requirements.
•Because members of the Supreme Court must be experts on the Constitution, Constitutional law, and federal law, all past and present members of the Supreme Court have been attorneys.

Those who were commissioned before the mid- to late-19th century learned the law by studying and apprenticing with more experienced attorneys; states didn't mandate licensing until the 20th-century.

•Of the 111 Supreme Court members, only 46 have held degrees from accredited law schools; 18 attended law school, but never attained a degree; and 47 were self-taught and/or went through an apprenticeship.
•The first Justice to graduate from law school was Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Harvard class of 1832, appointed to the bench in 1851.
•The last sitting Justice without a formal law degree was Stanley Forman Reed, who served from 1938-1957.
•Today, nominees are judged by the quality of the law school attended and the extent of their experience on the bench. Twenty-two of the 47 degreed candidates graduated from Harvard or Yale, while a number of the remainder graduated from other T14 (Top 14) schools.
•On the current Court, five Justices went to Harvard, two to Yale, one to Columbia and one to Northwestern.
•Credentials have become so important over the last 50 years that, when Richard Nixon named Mildred Lillie and Hershel Friday as potential nominees for the Court in 1971, the American Bar Association objected on the grounds that they were unqualified for the position, and their names were withdrawn from the pool. The ABA also objected to President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, his personal attorney and White House counsel, to the bench in 2005.
•Public service and political connections also factor heavily into the nomination process. For example, all but one appointee, George Shiras, Jr. (served 1892-1903), has held public office or been a judge prior to nomination, and three-fifths of the nominees have been personal acquaintances of the President who nominated them.
•While the Constitution stipulates no minimum or maximum age for judicial service, most nominees are under the age of 60, to help ensure a long tenure on the court. Most are in their 40s or 50s when appointed. The youngest Justice ever seated was Joseph Story, at the age of 32, in 1812; the oldest at time of appointment was Charles Evan Hughes, who was 67, in 1930.
•Most of the 111 Supreme Court members have been white, male, protestants. The first Jewish Justice was Louis Brandeis, commissioned in 1916; the first of only two African-Americans was Thurgood Marshall, commissioned in 1967 (the second being Clarence Thomas, who replaced Marshall); the first of three females was Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, commissioned in 1981, and retired in 2006. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and new Justice Sonia Sotomayor are currently serving. In addition to being the only the third female member of the Court, Sonia Sotomayor is also the first Latina commissioned.

And yet Robert Bork was turned down by far leftist idiots like the drunken Ted Kennedy and the idiot Joe Biden because he was idealogical.Never mind he was more qualified then anyone on the court,never mind that his intellect was so far beyond dim wits like Biden and Kennedy it was a joke.

Republicans need to start playing the same way.Fillibuster ANYONE Obama nominates just like Obama wanted to fillibuster Alito.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 21, 2010, 11:56:46 AM
I like the fact he is having these discussions. 

It's too bad presidents have to keep lying about litmus tests:  "I don't have litmus tests around any of these issues," Obama said, adding that he wanted a nominee "who is going to be interpreting our constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, and that includes women's rights."


Obama discusses Supreme Court pick with Senate leaders
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 21, 2010

(CNN)

The president welcomed Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada; Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky; Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont; and the Judiciary panel's ranking Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, to the White House meeting. Vice President Joe Biden also attended.

Stevens, who turned 90 on Tuesday, has announced that he will retire shortly after the Supreme Court's term ends in late June. White House officials have said they expect the president to pick his nominee by early May.

In brief comments before the meeting, Obama said he wants a new justice to support individual rights, including women's rights, but he stopped short of insisting that his nominee must support abortion rights.

"I don't have litmus tests around any of these issues," Obama said, adding that he wanted a nominee "who is going to be interpreting our constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, and that includes women's rights."

Obama noted that a core constitutional value promotes the notion that "individuals are protected in their privacy and in their bodily integrity, and women are not exempt from that."

Obama has been privately reaching out this week to candidates for the pending Supreme Court vacancy, an administration source said Tuesday. It was unclear which names on the White House short list of about 10 people are being given the most scrutiny.

In his brief remarks before Wednesday's meeting, Obama said Stevens leaves "tough shoes to fill."

The president noted that his first Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, won Senate confirmation last summer in plenty of time to join the court for the start of its next session in the fall. Obama said he expects another "smooth, civil and thoughtful nomination process and confirmation process" this time.

"I'm confident that we can come up with a nominee that will gain the confidence of the Senate and the confidence of the country," Obama said.

After the meeting, Leahy and Reid said it was a good discussion, but they declined to discuss specifics. Initially, government sources said three names had the early edge: Solicitor General Elena Kagan and federal appeals judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland.

However, officials now say the president had expanded the list of names he wanted his staff to vet before he makes his decision. Others being considered include Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Montana-based federal appeals judge Sidney Thomas.

A national poll released this week suggests that a majority of Americans expect Obama to appoint a liberal to the Supreme Court, but only one in four wants that to happen.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey indicates that 61 percent of the public expect the president to nominate a liberal to replace Stevens on the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, 21 percent said the president will name a moderate, and 16 percent said he would name a conservative.

Many experts say Obama is likely to name a relatively left-leaning justice because he is fairly liberal himself and wants a justice who shares his basic political and judicial philosophy. Stevens, as the senior associate justice, is the leader of the four liberal members of the nine-member court, so his replacement is unlikely to significantly change the ideological balance on the court.

Many progressive groups have urged Obama to name an outspoken, forceful liberal to the court, to help curtail what they see as the conservative dominance on that bench. Other Democrats have urged a more moderate choice who would be more acceptable to a bipartisan group of senators and who would avoid a protracted political fight over the nominee.

On Tuesday, Obama took time to send a birthday letter to the retiring judge.

"Our system of justice and our nation are stronger and fairer because of your sterling contributions. On behalf of the country, I thank you for your distinguished service," Obama wrote.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/21/obama.supreme.court/index.html?hpt=T2
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 12:29:32 PM
Another Bull Dyke who looks like Jaba the Hut.  What is it with Liberals and their love of fat ugly nasty lesibians?

what does her looks have to do with her ability to do the job

it's comments like this that show how truly shallow you are as a human being

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 12:33:32 PM
what does her looks have to do with her ability to do the job

it's comments like this that show how truly shallow you are as a human being



Funny considering the insults the left hurled at Meyers, Bork, Thomas, etc.   
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 12:34:16 PM
I knew Roberts was going to be a disaster when he used the term "mythical little guy"

Obama is going to pick someone who can oppose Roberts and who will also have the ability to convince other justices to do so

The following is from then-Sen. Barack Obama's floor statement explaining why he would vote against confirming Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts (September 2005):

. . . [T]he decision with respect to Judge Roberts' nomination has not been an easy one for me to make. As some of you know, I have not only argued cases before appellate courts but for 10 years was a member of the University of Chicago Law School faculty and taught courses in constitutional law. Part of the culture of the University of Chicago Law School faculty is to maintain a sense of collegiality between those people who hold different views. What engenders respect is not the particular outcome that a legal scholar arrives at but, rather, the intellectual rigor and honesty with which he or she arrives at a decision.

Given that background, I am sorely tempted to vote for Judge Roberts based on my study of his resume, his conduct during the hearings, and a conversation I had with him yesterday afternoon. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind Judge Roberts is qualified to sit on the highest court in the land. Moreover, he seems to have the comportment and the temperament that makes for a good judge. He is humble, he is personally decent, and he appears to be respectful of different points of view.

It is absolutely clear to me that Judge Roberts truly loves the law. He couldn't have achieved his excellent record as an advocate before the Supreme Court without that passion for the law, and it became apparent to me in our conversation that he does, in fact, deeply respect the basic precepts that go into deciding 95% of the cases that come before the federal court -- adherence to precedence, a certain modesty in reading statutes and constitutional text, a respect for procedural regularity, and an impartiality in presiding over the adversarial system. All of these characteristics make me want to vote for Judge Roberts.

The problem I face -- a problem that has been voiced by some of my other colleagues, both those who are voting for Mr. Roberts and those who are voting against Mr. Roberts -- is that while adherence to legal precedent and rules of statutory or constitutional construction will dispose of 95% of the cases that come before a court, so that both a Scalia and a Ginsburg will arrive at the same place most of the time on those 95% of the cases -- what matters on the Supreme Court is those 5% of cases that are truly difficult.

In those cases, adherence to precedent and rules of construction and interpretation will only get you through the 25th mile of the marathon. That last mile can only be determined on the basis of one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy.

In those 5% of hard cases, the constitutional text will not be directly on point. The language of the statute will not be perfectly clear. Legal process alone will not lead you to a rule of decision. In those circumstances, your decisions about whether affirmative action is an appropriate response to the history of discrimination in this country, or whether a general right of privacy encompasses a more specific right of women to control their reproductive decisions, or whether the Commerce Clause empowers Congress to speak on those issues of broad national concern that may be only tangentially related to what is easily defined as interstate commerce, whether a person who is disabled has the right to be accommodated so they can work alongside those who are nondisabled -- in those difficult cases, the critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge's heart.

I talked to Judge Roberts about this. Judge Roberts confessed that, unlike maybe professional politicians, it is not easy for him to talk about his values and his deeper feelings. That is not how he is trained. He did say he doesn't like bullies and has always viewed the law as a way of evening out the playing field between the strong and the weak.

I was impressed with that statement because I view the law in much the same way. The problem I had is that when I examined Judge Roberts' record and history of public service, it is my personal estimation that he has far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak. In his work in the White House and the Solicitor General's Office, he seemed to have consistently sided with those who were dismissive of efforts to eradicate the remnants of racial discrimination in our political process. In these same positions, he seemed dismissive of the concerns that it is harder to make it in this world and in this economy when you are a woman rather than a man.I want to take Judge Roberts at his word that he doesn't like bullies and he sees the law and the court as a means of evening the playing field between the strong and the weak. But given the gravity of the position to which he will undoubtedly ascend and the gravity of the decisions in which he will undoubtedly participate during his tenure on the court, I ultimately have to give more weight to his deeds and the overarching political philosophy that he appears to have shared with those in power than to the assuring words that he provided me in our meeting.

The bottom line is this: I will be voting against John Roberts' nomination. . . .

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A21
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 12:38:53 PM
[T]he decision with respect to Judge Roberts' nomination has not been an easy one for me to make. As some of you know, I have not only argued cases before appellate courts but for 10 years was a member of the University of Chicago Law School faculty and taught courses in constitutional law. Part of the culture of the University of Chicago Law School faculty is to maintain a sense of collegiality between those people who hold different views. What engenders respect is not the particular outcome that a legal scholar arrives at but, rather, the intellectual rigor and honesty with which he or she arrives at a decision.

________________________ ________________________ ______________

What cases did Obama argue before Appellate Courts? 

Surely there must be a record of this. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 12:41:35 PM
Funny considering the insults the left hurled at Meyers, Bork, Thomas, etc.   

I don't see the correlation

Meyers was criticized by right and left for her profound lack of intellectual prowess

Bork (before my time) was criticized for his strident right wing history

I don't recall anyone opposing Thomas based on his looks and he's turned out to be nothing but a rubber stamp for Scalia

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 12:42:24 PM
[T]he decision with respect to Judge Roberts' nomination has not been an easy one for me to make. As some of you know, I have not only argued cases before appellate courts but for 10 years was a member of the University of Chicago Law School faculty and taught courses in constitutional law. Part of the culture of the University of Chicago Law School faculty is to maintain a sense of collegiality between those people who hold different views. What engenders respect is not the particular outcome that a legal scholar arrives at but, rather, the intellectual rigor and honesty with which he or she arrives at a decision.

________________________ ________________________ ______________

What cases did Obama argue before Appellate Courts? 

Surely there must be a record of this. 

if you care go find it
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 12:42:50 PM
Thomas is a great SC Justice and a true example for people from poverty.  
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 21, 2010, 12:43:47 PM




I was impressed with that statement because I view the law in much the same way. The problem I had is that when I examined Judge Roberts' record and history of public service, it is my personal estimation that he has far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak. In his work in the White House and the Solicitor General's Office, he seemed to have consistently sided with those who were dismissive of efforts to eradicate the remnants of racial discrimination in our political process. In these same positions, he seemed dismissive of the concerns that it is harder to make it in this world and in this economy when you are a woman rather than a man.


How stupid is that?  He did what the White House told him to do.   ::)  Terrible logic.  
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 12:44:45 PM
Thomas is a great SC Justice and a true example for people from poverty.  

how is he great?
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 12:47:12 PM
How stupid is that?  He did what the White House told him to do.   ::)  Terrible logic.  

it's terrible logic to judge him by his actions rather than his words?

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 12:47:14 PM
Obama does not believe in the rule of law or the constitution. 



Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 21, 2010, 12:50:41 PM
it's terrible logic to judge him by his actions rather than his words?



Do you even understand what you posted??  The Soliciter General represents the White House, not himself.  So whatever positions Roberts took were not his own.  That's like criticizing a public defender for representing criminals.   ::) 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 21, 2010, 12:55:47 PM
what does her looks have to do with her ability to do the job

it's comments like this that show how truly shallow you are as a human being



lol.   ::)

Quote

btw - anyone notice how Stupak always has that glazed over, brain dead looks that many fundies also have?

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 02:56:13 PM
Do you even understand what you posted??  The Soliciter General represents the White House, not himself.  So whatever positions Roberts took were not his own.  That's like criticizing a public defender for representing criminals.   ::)  

it would be more like criticizing a mafia lawyer for defending career criminals

no one becomes a Solicitor General unless they are in full agreement with the politics of the President who appoints them so they are representing not only the point of view of the president but their own point of view as well

therefore it makes perfect sense to judge him by those actions because they represent his point of view
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 02:57:43 PM
lol.   ::)
 

fair enough but I never used it as a reason for qualification or disqualification for a job

you can find plenty more posts of me criticizing Stupak for his words and deeds
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 02:59:57 PM
 ::)  ::)  

GMAFB.  That is one of the most presigious positions a lawyer can hold and no one turns that position down.  

Straw - let me ask you this - I have a case next month where i represent a concrete contractor who is owed about 50k.  I am suing a developer hard on his luck who cant pay.  The guy is a minority who started the development company and is not probably going to go bankrupt because of my case.  

Should the judge feel bad for the developer based on his situation and lot in life?  Should the judge show "empathy" or simply apply the facts of the case to the common law breach of contract precedent?
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 03:02:48 PM
::)  ::)  

GMAFB.  That is one of the most presigious positions a lawyer can hold and no one turns that position down.  

Straw - let me ask you this - I have a case next month where i represent a concrete contractor who is owed about 50k.  I am suing a developer hard on his luck who cant pay.  The guy is a minority who started the development company and is not probably going to go bankrupt because of my case.  

Should the judge feel bad for the developer based on his situation and lot in life?  Should the judge show "empathy" or simply apply the facts of the case to the common law breach of contract precedent?


GMFB - does the President offer the job to anyone who doesn't share his political philopshy?

Does Bush give the job a left wing liberal and does Obama give it to a NeoCon?

of course not

they pick people who share their point of view
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 03:07:53 PM
So?  How is that person going to kmnow every case that comes before the court before qwhen he/she accepts the position? 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 03:10:56 PM
::)  ::)  

GMAFB.  That is one of the most presigious positions a lawyer can hold and no one turns that position down.  

Straw - let me ask you this - I have a case next month where i represent a concrete contractor who is owed about 50k.  I am suing a developer hard on his luck who cant pay.  The guy is a minority who started the development company and is not probably going to go bankrupt because of my case.  

Should the judge feel bad for the developer based on his situation and lot in life?  Should the judge show "empathy" or simply apply the facts of the case to the common law breach of contract precedent?


you know the answer to your own question and you also know your simple mundane case is not a Supreme Court case in which, as Obama wrote:  

while adherence to legal precedent and rules of statutory or constitutional construction will dispose of 95% of the cases that come before a court, so that both a Scalia and a Ginsburg will arrive at the same place most of the time on those 95% of the cases -- what matters on the Supreme Court is those 5% of cases that are truly difficult.

In those cases, adherence to precedent and rules of construction and interpretation will only get you through the 25th mile of the marathon. That last mile can only be determined on the basis of one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy.

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 03:14:12 PM
So?  How is that person going to kmnow every case that comes before the court before qwhen he/she accepts the position? 

stopy playing dumb (that's Beach Bums gig)

he doesn't have to know every case - all he has to do is be in philosophical agreement with the President

The POTUS doesn't pick anyone for these jobs who is not already in lockstep with him on all issues

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 03:15:39 PM
And?  Every president does that?  So far I like Roberts and Alito and think they are the only things Bush got right in general. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 03:18:08 PM
And?  Every president does that?  So far I like Roberts and Alito and think they are the only things Bush got right in general. 

clearly Alito and Roberts share the Bush/Neocon point  of view which is why is perfectly reasonable to judge the person by their actions (in the case of Roberts in his role as SG).   
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 03:18:54 PM
Fine, different strokes for different folks. 

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 21, 2010, 03:22:44 PM
it would be more like criticizing a mafia lawyer for defending career criminals

no one becomes a Solicitor General unless they are in full agreement with the politics of the President who appoints them so they are representing not only the point of view of the president but their own point of view as well

therefore it makes perfect sense to judge him by those actions because they represent his point of view

Went right over your head. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 21, 2010, 03:26:18 PM
fair enough but I never used it as a reason for qualification or disqualification for a job

you can find plenty more posts of me criticizing Stupak for his words and deeds

lol.  Comical!  lol. You talked about the physical appearance of "many" religious folks, not just Stupak.  But to quote a paranoid anti-religious extremist: ::) 
 

Quote
what does her looks have to do with her ability to do the job

it's comments like this that show how truly shallow you are as a human being


 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 03:28:31 PM
lol.  Comical!  lol. You talked about the physical appearance of "many" religious folks, not just Stupak.  But to quote a paranoid anti-religious extremist: ::) 
 

bullshit

show me the quotes

and with Stupak it was only one statement and not used as a reason why he should have his job

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 03:29:21 PM
Went right over your head. 

hardly - you just don't understand the obvious argument
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 03:33:17 PM
Obama voted against the confirmation of Alito and Roberts

Both Alito and Roberts share the neocon point of view of George Bush

Thats why Bush II nominated them and why Bush I appointed Roberts as Solicitor General

Only a disingenous or very ignorant person would think otherwise
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 03:34:48 PM
Obama voted against the confirmation of Alito and Roberts

Both Alito and Roberts share the neocon point of view of George Bush

Thats why Bush II nominated them and why Bush I appointed Roberts as Solicitor General

Only a disingenous or very ignorant person would think otherwise

What is a "Neocon" Straw?
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 21, 2010, 03:39:39 PM
bullshit

show me the quotes

and with Stupak it was only one statement and not used as a reason why he should have his job



This is funny.   :)  Read slowly:

Quote

btw - anyone notice how Stupak always has that glazed over, brain dead looks that many fundies also have?


Note the latter part of the sentence that mentions "many fundies."  What a maroon.  lol. . . . .

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 04:24:13 PM
This is funny.   :)  Read slowly:
 

Note the latter part of the sentence that mentions "many fundies."  What a maroon.  lol. . . .

So what
It's one quote and I don't make an issue of it in regards to job performance
Besides brains are counterproductive to maintaining a fundie belief system. 
You're a perfect example of that but even if you share that brain dead look I'd never bring it up with regards to your job
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 21, 2010, 04:34:22 PM
So what
It's one quote and I don't make an issue of it in regards to job performance
Besides brains are counterproductive to maintaining a fundie belief system. 
You're a perfect example of that but even if you share that brain dead look I'd never bring it up with regards to your job

Hysterical!  lol.  To recap:

1.  You essentially called 33 a lousy person for criticizing a person's physical appearance. 

2.  You've done the same thing, as pointed out in this thread.  Criticized Stupak’s physical appearance, which has nothing to do with his political views.   

3.  You denied criticizing the physical appearance of many religious people.

4.  When shown your owns words where you criticized the physical appearance of “many” religious people, you say it's only "one quote."  LOL. 

Is your little brain tied in knots?     :D

O.K.  I'm done slapping you around.   :) 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 21, 2010, 07:13:26 PM
Hysterical!  lol.  To recap:

1.  You essentially called 33 a lousy person for criticizing a person's physical appearance.  

2.  You've done the same thing, as pointed out in this thread.  Criticized Stupak’s physical appearance, which has nothing to do with his political views.    

3.  You denied criticizing the physical appearance of many religious people.

4.  When shown your owns words where you criticized the physical appearance of “many” religious people, you say it's only "one quote."  LOL.  

Is your little brain tied in knots?     :D

O.K.  I'm done slapping you around.   :)  


The only thing you slap around is your pecker (and hopefully not while you’re showering with your son)

I’ll try to make this easy for even a moron like you to understand.   My comment about Stupak was the last comment in a 6 page thread where you will find preceding comments by me on the substance of Stupaks hypocritical and braindead stance on abortion and the healthcare legislation.   Calling him braindead was an apt description of his actions and his position on the topic at hand.
I don’t expect you to take my word for it so here the link and you can see if that statement is true or not:  
http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=294998.0

In the example of this woman (Kagan) she has done nothing  except have her name mentioned in the media as a potential SC nominee and the first and only comments by 333 and you were derisive.   There is no substantive criticism or comment and only comments about her appearance and veiled innuendo about her sexuality.

Go back and read this thread and you’ll see what I mean (well you’ll see it but no doubt you won’t understand).
1rst comment but 333:  
Another Bull Dyke who looks like Jaba the Hut.  What is it with Liberals and their love of fat ugly nasty lesibians?
Next comment by 33:  
She looks like Rufus the Butcher down the street.  
Your response:  
lol   :D
Next comment by you:  
Is she married?
Next comment by 333:  
Yeah, to the refrigerator and Salvation Army clothing bin.  
Your response:  
Doh!  That's just wrong.  lol . . . .
Do you see the difference??
Of course you don’t but it’s obvious
The first thing you and 333 do is laugh about her appearance and you haven’t, as of yet made one comment about her points  of view, qualifications, etc….
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 21, 2010, 07:19:47 PM
Right, and you guys didnt mock palin for similiarly stupid reasons?  ::)  ::)  ::)
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 21, 2010, 07:28:17 PM
lol.  What a dunce. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 22, 2010, 09:33:31 AM
lol.  What a dunce. 

the facts speak for themself

I made a comment at the end of a 6 page thread where I criticized the words and deeds of a Stupak pointing out repeatedly that he was both ignorant and a hypocrite.  There was nothing left to say except that he was a brain dead fundie (like you).

This thread brought up Kagan.  Someone who has said and done nothing regarding her potential nomination and the first and only thing you and 333 do is ridicule her looks, weight, sexual orienation, etc...   Neither of you made one comment of substance on her record, her writing, etc...   It was first and only ridicule of her looks, etc...

The real irony is that you're the person who posted that NewsMax article pretending that the Left doesn't like Bachman or Palin because they are attractive women when people left, right and center criticize those two fundie dingbats for their words and deeds.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 22, 2010, 09:38:26 AM
Fine Straw - she is a POFS for her stance on ROTC.  Is that good enough for you? 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 22, 2010, 11:26:28 AM
the facts speak for themself

I made a comment at the end of a 6 page thread where I criticized the words and deeds of a Stupak pointing out repeatedly that he was both ignorant and a hypocrite.  There was nothing left to say except that he was a brain dead fundie (like you).

This thread brought up Kagan.  Someone who has said and done nothing regarding her potential nomination and the first and only thing you and 333 do is ridicule her looks, weight, sexual orienation, etc...   Neither of you made one comment of substance on her record, her writing, etc...   It was first and only ridicule of her looks, etc...

The real irony is that you're the person who posted that NewsMax article pretending that the Left doesn't like Bachman or Palin because they are attractive women when people left, right and center criticize those two fundie dingbats for their words and deeds.


Straw Man, as I have repeatedly said on this board, I don't believe you're very bright.  I really have nothing more to add.   :)
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 22, 2010, 11:28:39 AM
Straw Man, as I have repeatedly said on this board, I don't believe you're very bright.  I really have nothing more to add.   :)

believe whatever you want

I KNOW you're a moron
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 22, 2010, 11:31:51 AM
lol.    :-*
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 22, 2010, 11:35:35 AM
believe whatever you want

I KNOW you're a moron

Straw - are you ok with her ROTC position?
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 22, 2010, 11:36:53 AM
Straw - are you ok with her ROTC position?

beats me

you haven't told me what it is and what your problem with it is

for all I know I might agree with you

it's been known to happen
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 22, 2010, 11:44:33 AM
Elena Kagan's Achilles' Heel
www.dailybeast.com

________________________ __

US Solicitor General Elena Kagan prepares to address the forum at Georgetown University Law Center in …
Peter Beinart – Mon Apr 19, 7:40 am ET

NEW YORK – Obama’s potential Supreme Court pick banned military recruiting at Harvard Law. Peter Beinart on how that stance has damaged liberals—and why conservatives are right to bash her for it.

President Obama is about to nominate someone for the Supreme Court. On the day he or she is unveiled, conservatives will announce that they are approaching the selection with an open mind. Ten minutes later they will declare, more in sadness than anger, that the nominee has the judicial philosophy of Chairman Mao and the temperament of Dennis Rodman. Ten minutes after that, liberals will rise en masse to defend the nominee as wise, brilliant and humane, a person who restores our faith in humankind. And the kabuki theater will continue like that all summer long.

I can’t blame my fellow liberals for playing along; if the other side fires, we have to fire back. But there’s one exception. If Solicitor General Elana Kagan gets the nod, conservatives will beat the hell out of her for opposing military recruitment on campus when she was dean of Harvard Law School. And liberals should concede the point; the conservatives will be right.

Barring the military from campus is a bit like barring the president or even the flag. It’s more than a statement of criticism; it’s a statement of national estrangement.

“I abhor the military’s discriminatory recruitment policy,” wrote Kagan in 2003. It is “a profound wrong—a moral injustice of the first order.” So far, so good. Not allowing openly gay and lesbian Americans into the military is a grave moral injustice and it is a disgrace that so many Republicans defend the policy to this day. But the response that Kagan favored banning military recruiters from campus—was stupid and counterproductive. I think it showed bad judgment.

The United States military is not Procter and Gamble. It is not just another employer. It is the institution whose members risk their lives to protect the country. You can disagree with the policies of the American military; you can even hate them, but you can’t alienate yourself from the institution without in a certain sense alienating yourself from the country. Barring the military from campus is a bit like barring the president or even the flag. It’s more than a statement of criticism; it’s a statement of national estrangement.

• Linda Hirshman: Sexual Orientation and the Supreme CourtI doubt that’s how Kagan or her fellow administrators meant it. But it is certainly the way it has been received. It’s no coincidence that most Ivy League schools banned ROTC in the late 1960s, at exactly the moment liberalism was committing hara-kiri. The perception that liberals are unpatriotic stems from that moment in time and from actions just like that. And while the charge is and always has been unfair, banning recruiters from campus does suggest a somewhat impoverished understanding of patriotism. Yes, dissent is patriotic, as liberals love to declaim, but assent is an important part of patriotism too. Saying you show your love for your country only through criticism is like saying you show your love for your spouse only through criticism. It isn’t likely to go over well.

And it hasn’t. Banning the military from elite campuses hasn’t only helped generations of Nixons, Atwaters and Roves beat Democrats at the polls; it has also helped create a military that stands firmly on the red side of the culture war. As Michael Neiberg shows in his 2001 book, Making Citizen-Soldiers, the Ivy League administrators of the early 20th Century believed ROTC served a fundamentally liberal purpose. It infused the military with the spirit of intellectual openness found in the academy and thus “prevent[ed] the creation” of a narrow, isolated “military caste.” Today, thanks to administrators like Kagan, however, the military recruits mostly on the campuses of the South and West, and thus, the officer corps has become overwhelmingly Republican. The best way for Ivy League liberals to remedy anti-gay discrimination in the military—and to infuse it with liberal values more generally—would be to encourage the military to recruit from among their ranks, as those administrators urged a century ago. Instead, actions like Kagan’s have helped make the Ivy League and the military separate and sometimes hostile worlds, and both have suffered as a result.

Were Kagan to be passed over for the Supreme Court because of her views on military recruitment, many liberals would likely consider it unfair. But it would make ambitious Ivy League administrators think twice because succumbing to the left-wing mindlessness that sometimes prevails on campus. And it would further one of President Obama’s signature efforts: his bid to draw America’s almost half-century long culture war to a close. If that requires conceding that conservatives are right about something, so be it. I’m sure it won’t happen again anytime soon.

Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. His new book, Twitter and Facebook.

For more of The Daily Beast, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 22, 2010, 12:13:32 PM
333  - I'd have to look at this some more before I decided how I felt about it.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 22, 2010, 12:15:14 PM
333  - I'd have to look at this some more before I decided how I felt about it.

I posted a song you will like on my political music thread. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on April 22, 2010, 10:05:10 PM
Democrats Aim to Tap Populist Anger in High-Court Fight
The Wall Street Journal

In this Sept. 29, 2009, file photo Associate Justice John Paul Stevens sits for a group photograph at the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON—Democrats looking ahead to confirmation hearings for the next Supreme Court justice are hoping to put the court itself on trial in an attempt to ride populist anger about the economy.

In recent decades it has typically been Republicans who have made outrage at the court an issue. Dating back to Richard Nixon, they have stoked conservative anger at decisions on such matters as abortion, school prayer and criminal procedure.

Democrats preparing for the possibly contentious debate over a successor for departing Justice John Paul Stevens say that under Chief Justice John Roberts, the court has stacked the deck against ordinary Americans.

The touchstone of the Democratic strategy is the court's January ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which struck down restrictions on corporate spending on election campaigns. Democrats cite polls showing broad public disapproval of the ruling as evidence of growing anxiety about the court's direction.

"People are very concerned," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) said in an interview. The Roberts court has displayed a pattern of "decisions by a slim, activist, conservative majority" that have "misconstrued laws designed to protect the American people, tilting the scales of justice in favor of corporate rights," Leahy said Wednesday after discussing the court vacancy with President Barack. Obama.

Business groups and Republicans say Democrats are distorting the court's record. Robin Conrad, who heads the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's litigation arm, noted that the Roberts court has sometimes ruled against business, as in decisions that let patients sue drug makers over defective products and that allowed workers to sue employers in some instances.

Most such decisions came when Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative who typically holds the swing vote, joined Justice Stevens and three other liberals to form a bare majority.

Continue reading at The Wall Street Journal

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/23/democrats-aim-tap-populist-anger-high-court-fight/
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Skip8282 on April 23, 2010, 07:46:29 AM
Hysterical!  lol.  To recap:

1.  You essentially called 33 a lousy person for criticizing a person's physical appearance. 

2.  You've done the same thing, as pointed out in this thread.  Criticized Stupak’s physical appearance, which has nothing to do with his political views.   

3.  You denied criticizing the physical appearance of many religious people.

4.  When shown your owns words where you criticized the physical appearance of “many” religious people, you say it's only "one quote."  LOL. 

Is your little brain tied in knots?     :D

O.K.  I'm done slapping you around.   :) 



:D
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: tonymctones on April 23, 2010, 08:58:10 AM
Hysterical!  lol.  To recap:

1.  You essentially called 33 a lousy person for criticizing a person's physical appearance. 

2.  You've done the same thing, as pointed out in this thread.  Criticized Stupak’s physical appearance, which has nothing to do with his political views.   

3.  You denied criticizing the physical appearance of many religious people.

4.  When shown your owns words where you criticized the physical appearance of “many” religious people, you say it's only "one quote."  LOL. 

Is your little brain tied in knots?     :D

O.K.  I'm done slapping you around.   :) 

careful beach he will tell you its not hypocritical if he is ok with them making fun of him... ;D
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 23, 2010, 10:07:32 AM
I'm OK with making fun of anyone but if it's the FIRST and ONLY thing you've got then face up to that fact

I have to say it's weird that right wingers keep talking about how "hot" Palin and Bachmann are as if that has some significance and then pretending that people on the left (and right and center) don't take them seriously because they are hot.

People don't take them seriously and criticize them for their words and deeds...... period

Pretending it's because they are attractive is laughable and even more so because Repubs are the one's who make an issue out of looks.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: tonymctones on April 23, 2010, 10:36:08 AM
I'm OK with making fun of anyone but if it's the FIRST and ONLY thing you've got then face up to that fact

I have to say it's weird that right wingers keep talking about how "hot" Palin and Bachmann are as if that has some significance and then pretending that people on the left (and right and center) don't take them seriously because they are hot.

People don't take them seriously and criticize them for their words and deeds...... period

Pretending it's because they are attractive is laughable and even more so because Repubs are the one's who make an issue out of looks.

I have to say its funny that you dont understand the term hypocrite

2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

 :D
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 23, 2010, 10:49:48 AM
I have to say its funny that you dont understand the term hypocrite

2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

 :D

let's see it
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: tonymctones on April 23, 2010, 10:53:06 AM
let's see it
You think believing in God is silly b/c there is no evidence...

you dont believe in God even though there is no evidence to say he doesnt exist...

LMAO  :D
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 23, 2010, 11:07:17 AM
You think believing in God is silly b/c there is no evidence...

you dont believe in God even though there is no evidence to say he doesnt exist...

LMAO  :D

oh brother  - not that again

go back and find that thread and read it again
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: tonymctones on April 23, 2010, 11:11:16 AM
oh brother  - not that again

go back and find that thread and read it again
LOL no thanks i had enough of showing your idiocy and you not getting it...
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 23, 2010, 01:04:11 PM
LOL no thanks i had enough of showing your idiocy and you not getting it...

mabye we should bump the thread so you can refresh your memory

If I recall it as about 15 pages of complete stupidity on your part but since you didn't get it then what are the odds you're any smarter today?

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 23, 2010, 01:09:58 PM
mabye we should bump the thread so you can refresh your memory

If I recall it as about 15 pages of complete stupidity on your part but since you didn't get it then what are the odds you're any smarter today?



Straw with his typical nonsense. 

I mentioned Kagans' position on ROTC as well as her looks. 

As for Palin, Straw has never addressed her positions on issues, only his subjective hiew as to her intelligence, family life, etc. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 23, 2010, 01:17:15 PM
Straw with his typical nonsense. 

I mentioned Kagans' position on ROTC as well as her looks. 

As for Palin, Straw has never addressed her positions on issues, only his subjective hiew as to her intelligence, family life, etc. 

check the thread - you only mentioned the ROTC thing after I pointed out that you had ONLY mentioned her looks

I'm fine with giving people shit, making fun of them etc.. (I do plenty of it myself) but it's not the first thing or the only thing I do and usually it's only after a discussion about something the person has said or done

I don't care what you do but don't bitch about it if I want to point it out
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: tonymctones on April 23, 2010, 02:38:14 PM
mabye we should bump the thread so you can refresh your memory

If I recall it as about 15 pages of complete stupidity on your part but since you didn't get it then what are the odds you're any smarter today?


go for it brain child...
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 23, 2010, 02:59:23 PM
go for it brain child...
remind me which one it even was or even better just go ahead and link it here
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: tonymctones on April 23, 2010, 03:09:05 PM
remind me which one it even was or even better just go ahead and link it here
im not going to dig it up, go through your post history

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 23, 2010, 03:10:36 PM
im not going to dig it up, go through your post history



When you consider that Straw thinks the post office is in great shape, condoms and studies of drunk girls in bare were good uses of the Stim Bill money, etc etc etc, does anything surprise you from him?
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: tonymctones on April 23, 2010, 03:12:35 PM
When you consider that Straw thinks the post office is in great shape, condoms and studies of drunk girls in bare were good uses of the Stim Bill money, etc etc etc, does anything surprise you from him?
LOL not anymore he actually used to be a really good poster back in the day
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on April 23, 2010, 03:13:50 PM
LOL not anymore he actually used to be a really good poster back in the day

When you put party and obama above almost all elese, you will ratinolize anything and anything. 

Just ask 240. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 23, 2010, 03:19:06 PM
When you consider that Straw thinks the post office is in great shape, condoms and studies of drunk girls in bare were good uses of the Stim Bill money, etc etc etc, does anything surprise you from him?

I said the Post Office was fine - not in grea in shape.

Find the other shit you're talking about .... or don't

I really don't care
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on April 23, 2010, 03:21:52 PM
im not going to dig it up, go through your post history

smart move

Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: tonymctones on April 23, 2010, 03:27:11 PM
smart move


smart move by you hoss...

most ppl saw that thread and your idiocy bringing it back up will just cause you to own yourself  ;)
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: James on April 28, 2010, 04:35:05 AM
Quote
When you consider that Straw thinks the post office is in great shape, condoms and studies of drunk girls in bare were good uses of the Stim Bill money, etc etc etc, does anything surprise you from him?

Yes, Straw Man was the one that said he would by Stock in the Postal service if he could    :o



Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on May 01, 2010, 01:29:15 AM
Obama Interviews Thomas for High Court
Thursday, 29 Apr 2010   
President Barack Obama on Thursday interviewed federal appeals court Judge Sidney Thomas of Montana for an opening on the Supreme Court, a person familiar with the conversation told The Associated Press.

The roughly hour-long session at the White House was the first known formal interview that Obama has conducted for the upcoming vacancy on the high court. It is not clear whether Obama has interviewed other candidates in person.

Vice President Joe Biden also interviewed Thomas at the White House in a separate meeting Thursday, said the person familiar with the conversations, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss Obama's private deliberations.

The White House had no comment.

A message left with Thomas' chambers in Billings was not immediately returned.

The personal time Obama devoted to Thomas suggests that the federal judge, well respected within legal circles but hardly a familiar name in Washington, is under a higher level of consideration by the president.

The news of his interview by the president and vice president works to the White House's advantage in signaling that Obama is giving a hard review to a candidate who comes from outside the Washington Beltway and does not neatly fit into conventional wisdom.

The court is dominated by justices with ties to the Northeast and the Ivy League; Thomas' career is rooted in the West — he lives in Billings, Mont., and got his bachelor's degree from Montana State University and his law degree from the University of Montana.

The 56-year-old judge serves on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the largest of the nation's appellate courts. He was nominated to that job in July 1995 by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the Senate with no controversy.

The San Francisco-based appeals court on which he serves has a liberal reputation, but attorneys who know Thomas describe him as independent and a straight-shooter.

Obama is choosing a nominee to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, who is retiring this summer.

Obama's pick is not expected to upend the court's balance of power — four on the left, four on the right, one in the middle. Stevens, the retiring justice, is the leader of the court's liberals.

Thomas' name has been on Obama's known list of court contenders for more than two weeks. But the predictably intense speculation about whom Obama will pick has centered on other names — chiefly Solicitor General Elena Kagan and federal appeals court judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said earlier this week that Obama would be talking to candidates this week, but the White House has declined to characterize those conversations.

The president has been considering about 10 people as potential nominees.

Among the others are federal appeals court judge Ann Williams, former Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow.

Obama is expected to choose his nominee within a couple of weeks.

He already went through the formal interview process last year with three of the current top contenders — Wood, Kagan and Napolitano — before nominating Sonia Sotomayor in May 2009 to replace Justice David Souter.

http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Obama-Supreme-Court/2010/04/29/id/357365
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on May 04, 2010, 02:49:37 PM
Chicago judge's record rates highly among progressives, colleagues
By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
May 4, 2010
Washington (CNN) -- As a young working mother in the the early 1980s, Diane Wood, like many of her generation, struggled to balance work and family.

The future judge and Supreme Court contender had just accepted a job teaching law in Chicago, Illinois, while pregnant with her second child.

Soon after David was born, the professor went into anaphylactic shock and was rushed to the hospital with post-pregnancy complications. Despite her serious condition, she recovered quickly, but really had no choice. Friends say that with two young kids and a new job, no maternity leave was offered, and her male colleagues at work were mostly clueless over how to deal with her.

"People had no idea what to do with the fact that I had these two tiny children," she told an interviewer last year. Overcoming institutional and social challenges to become a nationally recognized legal heavyweight and high court contender, colleagues say, is a testament to Wood's intellectual and personal fortitude.

Her long, relatively liberal judicial record presents both a measure of certainty about the kind of justice she would become, and a political challenge getting her confirmed.

"Diane Wood is among the most respected federal judges on the left," said Thomas Goldstein, a Supreme Court legal analyst and founder of scotusblog.com. "Being a woman is a political plus, but she has decided cases on abortion, affirmative action, religion, and the like. That will generate more of a political firestorm."

Wood has sat on the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago since 1995. Considered one of the sharpest minds on that bench, she has known President Obama from their days as part-time instructors at the University of Chicago. They have remained casual friends since then. She will turn 60 in July and is among the oldest candidates being given serious scrutiny for the high court.

Aware of her liberalism, progressive groups have been quietly urging the White House to nominate Wood, saying she also enjoys the support of conservative members of her court, and would be confirmable.

Wood was born in 1950 in New Jersey, and as a teenager moved with her parents to Texas, where her father worked as an Exxon accountant. After finishing first in her class at Houston's Westchester High School, Wood had her choice of colleges, including the Ivy Leagues, but chose in-state University of Texas, mainly due to financial considerations. She was weeks from beginning graduate studies in literature at Yale when, on a whim, she pulled out and decided to take up law at UT, where her future husband was studying.

If nominated and confirmed to the high court, she would be the only person on that bench without an Ivy League law degree, and the only Protestant.

She clerked for Justice Harry Blackmun in 1976-77, just three years after he issued the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. She was one of only three female Supreme Court law clerks that year. She later worked as a government lawyer in the administrations of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

In between were brief stints in private practice and as a law professor at Georgetown and the University of Chicago, where she started in 1981 as the only full-time female faculty member. She later became associate dean and helped craft the school's first sexual harassment policy, which took several years to implement. "You put your batting helmet on when you go to work for the University of Chicago," Wood said last year. "It's a hard-hitting place."

The retiring Justice John Paul Stevens also attended the school as an undergraduate, and Wood still teaches a class in civil procedure on a part-time basis. Students privately describe her courses as tough but very fair, and say Professor Wood is a knowledgeable, hands-on teacher and good listener.

Twice divorced with three grown children, Wood is now married to a neurologist and lives in a Chicago suburb. Judge Richard Posner, a conservative member of the 7th Circuit and a close Wood friend, officiated at her 2006 wedding.

Friends describe her as keenly interested in world affairs, and she has traveled the globe extensively promoting American concepts of the rule of law. She has made international trade her legal specialty; she speaks French, German, and some Russian.

Among her many interests are the oboe and French horn, and she is good enough to play in several area orchestras.

Wood's judicial record reflects a mainstream liberal jurisprudence, tempered by a respect for precedent and a narrow focus on the facts at hand. Absent are any detours into ideological rants and asides. In her 15 years on the court, she has often served as an intellectual counterweight to leading conservative judges Frank Easterbrook and Richard Posner. She has written more than 50 dissents, and concurrences in dozens more. She became only the second woman at the time to sit on the 7th Circuit, recommended to the job by the late Sen. Paul Simon, D-Illinois.

Like many of the top contenders being considered by Obama, Wood has earned a reputation as a consensus-builder on her court.

Her rulings on abortion have attracted the most criticism from conservatives.

• In 2002, she dissented from a court opinion upholding the constitutionality of an Indiana statute requiring women to wait 18 hours and receive counseling and additional information before obtaining an abortion (A Woman's Choice-East Side Women's Clinic vs. Newman, 2002).

• In 1999, she dissented from a ruling upholding the constitutionality of Illinois and Wisconsin statutes banning a late-term procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion (Hope Clinic vs. Ryan, 1999). The high court a year later affirmed her views, throwing out a similar restriction on the procedure in Nebraska.

• In 2001, Wood wrote the opinion upholding a lower court decision that applied anti-racketeering laws against a group of anti-abortion protesters. The case was reversed twice by the Supreme Court, 8-1 and 8-0. The only dissent by the high court in support of Wood's views was Stevens himself (National Organization for Women vs. Scheidler, 2001).

Wood has expressed admiration for her former boss's views on abortion. "Justice Blackmun articulated in Roe," she wrote in a 1993 law review article, "the important insight that a core set of individual rights exists that neither the states nor the federal government may trample."

Hours after Stevens announced his retirement in April, abortion opponents made their intentions clear:

"A Wood nomination would return the abortion wars to the Supreme Court," Americans United for Life announced in a statement.

"Judge Diane Wood would be a very polarizing and divisive nominee," said Carrie Severino, chief counsel at the conservative Judicial Crisis network. "She's got cases on abortion, the most extreme abortion cases out there, she's got some very difficult opinions just to square with the American people. And so she is pretty far out on the left. But if that is what the president wants to go for, we are ready for a fight."

Church-state disputes are another area that may cause difficulty if Wood is nominated.

• She ruled against a church that claimed O'Hare International Airport's acquisition of church-owned land under eminent domain laws violated the free exercise clause of the First Amendment (St. John's United Church of Christ vs. City of Chicago, 2007).

• She argued in a dissent that Indiana taxpayers had legal standing to challenge the legislative prayer practices in the Indiana General Assembly (Hinrichs vs. Speaker of the House, 2007).

• She issued a dissent in favor of allowing a public university to revoke the charter of a Christian student organization that refused membership to gays and lesbians (Christian Legal Society vs. Walker). The high court last month heard a similar case from the same group, over denial of official recognition by a California law school.

And in 2008, she dissented in a ruling allowing a condominium association to prevent a Chicago family from putting up a Jewish decoration on their doorpost. The Blochs challenged the rule against placing "objects of any sort" in the hallways. Mezuzahs are often placed on doors, and contain a small parchment with biblical sayings.

Wood disagreed with the majority's conclusion the rule was neutral in respect to religion. In a long, detailed dissent, she wrote: "The [condo] Association might as well hang a sign outside saying 'No Observant Jews Allowed.'"

She also criticized the condo board for filing an appeal accusing the homeowners of trying to get a "pound of flesh" from the board. She noted the phrase comes from Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice," and refers to the shady actions of Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. "This is hardly the reference someone should choose who is trying to show that the stand-off ... was not because of the Blochs' religion, but rather in spite of it." (Bloch v. Frischolz and Shoreline Towers Condominium Assn., 2008).

Amazingly, because of her powerful dissent, the entire appeals court agreed to rehear the case and reversed unanimously, adopting Wood's original position.

A 2005 law school lecture also raised concerns from conservatives over her views on whether current courts should broadly interpret the original text of the Constitution, and the rights and privileges it confers on citizens.

She said of the framers of the 1789 document, "There is no more reason to think that they expected the world to remain static than there is to think that any of us holds a crystal ball," she wrote. "The only way to create a foundational document that could stand the test of time was to build in enough flexibility that later generations would be able to adapt it to their own needs and uses."

Many conservatives believe judges should adhere to the strict wording of the Constitution, and not try to read into rights that do not exist, such as, they contend, the "right" to an abortion.

Wood was interviewed by the president last year, a finalist for the high court seat that went to Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Colleagues privately say Wood was pleased with the rapport she established in the one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office.

She has given few media interviews over the years, and has been generally reticent about stating her views off the bench. When approached by CNN last year in Washington, where she had gone to meet Obama, Wood was polite but firm about her chances. "I'm not answering anything on that," she said, smiling and apologizing she could not say more.

In an interview last fall with her alumni magazine, Wood said, "As a judge you don't campaign for such things. I'm in the luxurious position of knowing that the people who count know that I am here, and if they are interested, they'll let me know."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/04/scotus.contenders.wood/index.html
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on May 07, 2010, 10:00:13 AM
May 7, 2010

Supreme Court Update - No White Smoke Yet

Senior White House correspondent Major Garrett reports this morning that while there's definitely a "front runner" for the Supreme Court nomination, nothing is a done deal.

Two senior administration officials deeply involved in President Obama's deliberations on choosing a nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens say no decision has been made and that interviews are contemplated and nominee qualifications are still being reviewed.

Both officials confirmed the long-held suspicion that Solicitor General Elena Kagan was a leading candidate for the high court vacancy. Both emphatically denied a decision has been made to nominate Kagan, a former Harvard Law School dean.

"I can tell you, without any hedging, that he has not made up his mind yet and is still talking to and (looking) through candidates," one senior official said. "It may well end up being her (Kagan), but there's no white smoke yet."

Said another official on the Beltway Kagan-to-the-court zeitgeist, another top official said: "It's a jump ball."

Kagan is one of the four possible nominees to have been interviewed by Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. The others are 7th Circuit Court justice Diane Wood, 9th Circuit justice Sidney Thomas, and D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals justice Merrick Garland.

http://whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/05/07/supreme-court-update-no-white-smoke-yet/?test=latestnews
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on May 07, 2010, 06:34:02 PM
Obama's Supreme Court Pick Imminent; Kagan the Favorite
Friday, 07 May 2010
   
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will announce his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court very soon, White House officials said on Friday, as court watchers said Solicitor General Elena Kagan is most likely to be the pick.

Although there is no guarantee she is the nominee, Kagan could be expected to pass fairly smoothly through the confirmation process, experts say.

Administration officials are eager to avoid a bitter battle over the court pick ahead of congressional elections in November, where Obama's fellow Democrats will be fighting to keep their majorities in Congress.

Considered one of the more moderate choices on Obama's short list of potential court nominees, Kagan has been through one Senate confirmation already -- she was confirmed last year for her current position.

Obama's announcement of his selection to replace retiring liberal Justice John Paul Stevens could come "at any moment," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on Friday. Most observers expect an announcement on Monday or Tuesday.

Administration officials have not said who Obama's nominee for the lifetime appointment to the nine-member Court will be, but they have confirmed the names of several people on Obama's short list, including Kagan.

"I have not been told that he's made a decision," Gibbs told a news conference. "I have not been told that the interviews have stopped."

Obama has interviewed at least four people for the vacancy, including two women -- Kagan, and federal appeals court Judge Diane Wood, one of the most liberal of the potential nominees. She would face the toughest confirmation fight but is also considered a favorite.

. . .

http://newsmax.com/Newsfront/supreme-court-Elena-Kagan/2010/05/07/id/358268
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on May 07, 2010, 06:48:06 PM
The libs at hp are pissed off about this. 

If they are pissed off she can't be that bad.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on May 07, 2010, 06:52:37 PM
The libs at hp are pissed off about this. 

If they are pissed off she can't be that bad.

lol.  True. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on May 11, 2010, 12:24:58 PM
Dick Morris: Kagan 'Moderate' Democrat
Tuesday, 11 May 2010   
By: Jim Meyers

Veteran political analyst Dick Morris says Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, was a “moderate conservative” in the Bill Clinton White House.

But he also asserts that she will “be way over left” on environmental issues if she is confirmed for the high court post.

Morris and Kagan both served in the Clinton White House, Morris as a presidential adviser and Kagan as Associate White House Counsel from 1995 to 1999.

“I knew her pretty well in the Clinton administration,” Morris said during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News Channel Monday night.
“And in that world she was a moderate and conservative within the Clinton White House.

“For example, I’m sure she’s supported the welfare reform bill. I’m sure she’s supported the balanced budget deal. I’m sure she’s supported the capital gains tax cut.”

Hannity said: “We do know that she supported the compromise on the partial birth abortion bill.”

Kagan urged President Clinton to ban late-term abortions, a political compromise that put the administration at odds with abortion rights groups.

“We talked with her,” Morris said. “She really is an Al Gore person, though. And in the Clinton White House, Gore, believe it or not, was a moderate. He’s moved way to the left since. And it’s possible that Kagan has moved way to the left.

“Based on the Elena Kagan that I knew, she would be a moderate on the court. She’d be a little bit like Sandra Day O’Connor . .
.
“She may have changed in 14 years. But the person that I knew in the Clinton White House was definitely a moderate conservative. That means she was kind of center left.”

Hannity asked: “Were her recommendations seen through a political prism? In other words, did she recommend on partial birth abortion the compromise for any other reason except she thought it would help the president politically? Do we really glean her philosophy?”

Morris responded: “I think it will be more political than personal. The one issue where I am convinced she is an extreme leftist is the environment. She and [Clinton’s EPA Administrator] Carol Browner were kind of Bobbsey Twins in the White House.

“And I think that on cap and trade and stuff like that, she’d be way over left. But on the other issues — welfare reform and fiscal policy and terrorism — I would peg her as moderate.”

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/kagan-democrat-moderate-dick/2010/05/11/id/358690
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on May 11, 2010, 04:53:20 PM
Kagan Under Fire for 'Segregating' Pro-Military Students at Harvard Law
Monday, 10 May 2010   
By: David A. Patten

The nation's largest conservative youth outreach organization charged Monday that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan "trampled on the rights" of students during her tenure as the dean of Harvard Law School, and "segregated" students who sought to meet with military recruiters to hear about possible careers in the U.S. armed services.

Kagan's opposition to treating military recruiters the same way corporate and legal recruiters were treated is emerging as one of the most controversial aspects of her background.

Even observers who customarily support President Obama's policies are criticizing that aspect of Kagan's career. Daily Beast senior political writer and author Peter Beinart, who generally lauded Obama's pick, said Kagan should apologize for treating military recruiters like second-class citizens.

"The question was, and is, whether banning the military from campus constitutes the right response," Beinart wrote. "I think it was stupid then and stupid now."

According to the conservative Young America's Foundation (YAF): "Kagan treated patriotic students like second-class citizens when she banned them from meeting with military recruiters in the career office."

A YAF news release Monday evening declared: "She forced students to meet with military representatives off campus or in a segregated part of the campus, essentially telling these young people to 'get to the back of the bus.'"

Harvard's ban on military recruiters preceded Kagan by several decades. The reason: The Armed Forces would not allow openly gay soldiers to serve.

In 2002, after 9/11 and up against mounting pressure from the Bush administration, the law school relented and agreed to allow the on-campus visits.

Kagan, however, rose to become dean of the school one year later.
Kagan openly expressed her passionate opposition to allowing the visits, even calling the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy "a moral injustice of the first order."

In November 2004, after a favorable court ruling, Kagan banned military recruiters from the law school campus once again. She did allow recruiters limited access through the Harvard Law Students Veterans Association.
Kagan and 40 other Harvard professors then signed a friend of the court brief, in an effort to persuade the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the ban.

To the contrary, the Supreme Court ruled 8 to 0 that Kagan and her colleagues were wrong.

“A military recruiter’s mere presence on campus does not violate a law school’s right to associate, regardless of how repugnant the law school considers the recruiter’s message,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in his Rumsfeld v. FAIR opinion.

"The Supreme Court's unanimous decision rejected Kagan's radical ideology," the YAF statement declared Monday, "saying that students have every right to meet with the military on campus and that the federal government has every right to deny US taxpayer funds to schools that did not comply."

Ironically, one of the leaders who took issue with Kagan's controversial stance was then Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking at Columbia University in 2008, Obama said: "The notion that young people … anywhere, in any university, aren't offered the choice, the option of participating in military service, I think is a mistake."

Young America's Foundation Vice President Kate Obenshain said Monday: "Kagan has repeatedly trampled on the rights of patriotic students who want to serve their country. She did so even at a time when our nation is at war."

The YAF is urging senators to oppose the Kagan nomination, warning "The battle to limit the rights of certain students on campus, particularly those willing to sacrifice their lives in the service of their country, will begin anew should Kagan win a powerful life-long seat on the Supreme Court.

The YAF has defended the rights of ROTC and other students to serve their country for over 40 years.

"In those 40 years, we have never seen as dire a threat to students' rights, and the constitutional rights of all citizens, as Elena Kagan presents," the organization states.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/kagan-military-recruiters-harvard/2010/05/10/id/358611
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on May 15, 2010, 10:26:49 AM
Conservative Friends Rise in Support of Kagan
Friday, 14 May 2010   
 
Conservative lawyers and academics are voicing support for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, praise that could soften criticism from the right and provide cover for any Republican senators inclined to vote for her nomination.

The essence of their take on Kagan, the former Harvard Law School dean who now serves as solicitor general, is that she clearly has the smarts to be a justice and has shown an ability to work with all sides on thorny issues.

"She has had a remarkable and truly unusual record of reaching out across ideological divides," said Michael McConnell, a former federal appeals court judge who was nominated by President George W. Bush.

Longtime Kagan friend Miguel Estrada, whose appeals court nomination by Bush was blocked by Senate Democrats, said, "She's clearly qualified for the court and should be confirmed. Obviously, she's a left-of-center academic who never would have been picked by a Republican. But no one can doubt her intellectual accomplishments."

In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Friday, Estrada said, "If such a person, who has demonstrated great intellect, high accomplishments and an upright life is not easily confirmable, I fear we will have reached a point where no capable person will readily accept a nomination for judicial service."

Former special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, who ran the investigation that led to President Bill Clinton's impeachment, said charges by some conservatives that Kagan holds extreme views are off-base.

"That's politics, and unfortunately confirmation politics have been very ugly, with a few happy interludes, ever since the nomination of Judge Robert Bork," Starr said on MSNBC.

Conservative interest groups and some senators have raised questions about Kagan's lack of judicial experience and suggested that she might be a "rubber stamp" for Obama on the high court. They also have seized on her opposition to military recruiters at Harvard over the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gay soldiers. The conservative critics argue that she would be a liberal, activist justice.

Carrie Severino, chief counsel to the Judicial Crisis Network, said endorsements by prominent conservatives do nothing to answer the questions about Kagan.

"I don't think that really changes our analysis," Severino said. "We're very interested in finding out what kind of a justice she would be. As of right now, what we see looks very troubling."

Severino's group released a video Friday blasting Kagan for barring military recruiters over "don't ask, don't tell." GOP senators have said the decision casts doubt on Kagan's fitness for the bench.

Thomas Goldstein, a Supreme Court lawyer who writes about the court and nominations for Scotusblog.com, said the support on the right is potentially useful to Kagan.

"When conservative icons strongly endorse Kagan, that knocks the legs out from under the claim that she's either unqualified or a liberal activist. Those arguments end up looking like pure politics," Goldstein said. "The endorsements also give critical cover to moderate Republicans who want to vote for her but worry about criticism from the right."

So far no Republican senator has announced support for Kagan, who received seven GOP votes when she was confirmed as solicitor general last year.

McConnell, who teaches law at Stanford University, agreed with Severino that Kagan's stand on military recruiters was a "dreadful decision." But he said that Harvard was like many other major law schools at that time in seeking to bar military recruiters over discrimination against gays. He said the episode was "not a serious black eye."

He also said that Kagan will be a safe liberal vote in most cases that divide on ideological grounds.

Yet, he said, "As I chat with other center-right law professors, she's got overwhelming affection and support."

He attributed some of that support to Kagan's openness to arguments across the political spectrum.

"She's a bit unusual in this respect, particularly at this juncture when not just the Supreme Court but the country basically is divided into two camps that often cannot speak to each other," McConnell said. Kagan, who has known McConnell since their days as law professors at the University of Chicago in the early 1990s, wrote a letter of support for McConnell in 2002 urging Senate Democrats to confirm him.

She and Estrada have been friends since they sat next to each other in several law school classes 25 years ago. And Starr held the same job as Kagan, when he was President George H.W. Bush's solicitor general.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/elena-Kagan-Conservatives-support/2010/05/14/id/359108
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on May 19, 2010, 03:38:50 PM
Kagan hearings to start in June
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman moved quickly today to advance Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan down a so-far smooth road to confirmation, setting hearings for June 28.
 
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the schedule should allow the hearings to be completed before senators leave for a weeklong break in early July. In announcing it, Leahy was seizing the momentum building behind Kagan's nomination just over a week after President Barack Obama selected her to succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

"I would urge everybody to come to the hearing with an open mind, listen to her answers to those questions, and we will make sure that every senator — both sides of the aisle — has ample time to ask the questions they want," Leahy said.

The Judiciary Committee already sifted through much of Kagan's record and background for its 2009 hearings on her nomination to be solicitor general, and the 50-year-old former Harvard Law School dean was confirmed then on a bipartisan Senate vote. Leahy said that history, plus Kagan's lack of experience as a judge — something Republicans have criticized — should make getting ready for these hearings "less labor-intensive."

The timetable mirrors the one Leahy's panel followed last year with Obama's first court choice, Justice Sonia Sotomayor. It would put the Senate on track to meet the president's goal of installing Kagan on the court by the time its new session begins this fall.

Leahy settled on it over the objections of Republicans, who said they wanted more time to review documents from Kagan's past, particularly from her years serving in the Clinton White House.

But GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the panel's ranking member, said his party would "try to do our best to conduct an effective hearing" in the time provided.

"We'll discuss judicial activism, faithfulness to the Constitution, and I expect it to be a vigorous and important hearing," Sessions said.

Kagan, 50, stepped aside Monday from her job as solicitor general, in which she represented the Obama administration before the Supreme Court. She was back on Capitol Hill today for one-on-one meetings with a group of Democratic senators.

Kagan has met with nearly a quarter of the Senate, where Democrats have more than enough votes to confirm her and Republicans have so far shown little inclination to block the move.

The White House yesterday sent the Judiciary Committee thousands of pages of Kagan's speeches and writings, including her work as solicitor general and her articles as an undergraduate staff writer on Princeton University's campus newspaper.

The papers were a response to a questionnaire sent to Kagan by the judiciary panel, and they emerged as the White House tried to paint a fuller picture of Obama's nominee, whose thin record of legal writings has left Republicans and even some Democrats suspicious of her views.

Obama's team on rounded up a group of former aides to then-President Bill Clinton who served with Kagan in the White House to tout her qualifications in a conference call today with reporters.

Praising her as "wicked smart" and "extremely highly qualified" for the Supreme Court, former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta nonetheless stressed that Kagan's work for Clinton said more about her then-boss' policy agenda than about hers.

"What she was trying to do was give (Clinton) her best advice about how to move forward and implement an agenda that he had set forward before the American public. ... We had our marching orders," Podesta said.

Podesta wasn't referring to any specific issue Kagan handled while at the Clinton White House, but she has come under scrutiny by some Democrats for a 1997 memo she wrote urging Clinton to support a ban on late-term abortions except when the physical health of the mother was at risk.

Kagan worked as a domestic policy adviser and associate White House counsel to Clinton. Leahy and Sessions wrote to the Clinton presidential library yesterday asking for the release of some 160,000 pages of files related to Kagan's work during that time. The White House has also requested them.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100519/BREAKING/100519013/Kagan+hearings+to+start+in+June
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on June 16, 2010, 11:44:39 AM
Law School Deans Endorse Kagan for Supreme Court
Tuesday, 15 Jun 2010

A broad group of law school deans endorsed Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on Tuesday, praising her legal skills, intelligence and ability to build coalitions.

Sixty-nine law school deans from around the country wrote to the Democratic chairman and the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to endorse the nomination of Kagan, a former Harvard Law School dean.

One conservative who left his name off the letter — Dean Joseph Kearney of the Marquette University Law School — joined the signatories on a conference call organized by the White House to announce that he, too, backs President Barack Obama's choice to succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

Kearney clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, the court's conservative icon. He said Kagan showed strong leadership while at Harvard — considered a liberal bastion — by appointing conservatives to the faculty.

"Her having sought to ensure that the faculty was representative of mainstream legal thought in a broader way than was true before she became dean is a pretty powerful matter. It demonstrates that she is intellectually engaged with the law as it is today," said Kearney, who said his policy is not to sign group letters.

Still, Kearney said he shared the views of the other law deans, who in their letter called Kagan "superbly qualified" and wrote that she had first-rate legal skills, a respected body of work on constitutional law, enormous intelligence and a flair for forging coalitions.

Kagan "is known to us as a person of unimpeachable integrity," the letter concludes. "She will inspire those around her to pursue law and justice in a way that makes us proud."

It's signed by Stanford Law School Dean Larry D. Kramer on behalf of deans from an assortment of schools, from the Ivy League to state schools and large, well-known institutions to small, obscure ones.

The Judiciary panel is set to begin hearings on Kagan's nomination on June 28.

The White House has gone out of its way to highlight conservative support for Kagan. It featured a conservative former student of Kagan's on a conference call last month to showcase Harvard law graduates' positive views of their former dean.

Similarly, Kearney joined two liberal deans, Martha Minow of Harvard and Evan H. Caminker of the University of Michigan Law School, on Tuesday's call. Kearney said he regards Kagan's views as mainstream.

A handful of other conservatives have written to the Judiciary panel endorsing Kagan, including Miguel Estrada, a failed federal appeals court nominee chosen by President George W. Bush.

Brian Fitzpatrick, another former Scalia clerk and one-time Republican aide who now teaches at Vanderbilt University Law School, also wrote to the Judiciary panel last week endorsing Kagan.

Fitzpatrick, who was one of Kagan's law students at Harvard, called her "a person of utmost integrity, extraordinary legal talent and relentless generosity" and said he could "imagine few people who will better serve the American people as a justice."

Former solicitors general from Republican and Democratic administrations are putting together a letter of support for Kagan, although it has not yet been made public. Several of them, including conservatives Ted Olson and Ken Starr, endorsed Kagan last year when the Senate was considering her nomination for solicitor general.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Kagan-Endorsement/2010/06/15/id/362095
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on June 30, 2010, 08:18:47 PM
Sounds like she supports partial birth abortion.  What a surprise.   ::)


Kagan Defends Revising Medical Group's Statement on Partial-Birth Abortion
Published June 30, 2010
FOXNews.com

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan gestures as she testifies at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill June 29. (Reuters Photo)

In a rare moment of drama in her confirmation hearings, Supreme Court Justice nominee Elena Kagan was forced to defend her revision of an obstetrician group's policy statement on partial-birth abortion while she was an adviser in the Clinton White House.

As a Republican-controlled Congress in the 1990s debated whether to ban the controversial procedure, Kagan wrote a memo in which she expressed concern about a statement that the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologist was going to release that revealed its panel of experts found no circumstances in which the procedure was the only option for saving the life of the woman.

"This, of course, would be a disaster," she wrote.

Kagan revised the language so the final statement in 1997 said that the partial-birth abortion "may be the best and most appropriate procedure in particular circumstances to save the life or preserve the health of the woman."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told Kagan on Wednesday "that's a very different spin and obviously a more politically useful spin."

"Your language played an enormous role in both legal and political fights over banning partial-birth abortion," he said. "The political objective of keeping partial-birth abortion legal appears to have trumped what a medical organization originally wrote and left to its own scientific inquiry and that they had concluded."

Congress passed a ban on the procedure twice in the 1990s but President Clinton vetoed it both times. The procedure was finally banned in 2003 when President Bush signed it into law. The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban in 2007 in a 5-4 ruling.

On Wednesday, Kagan disputed Hatch's version of the events, but admitted that she did speak with ACOG to revise the statement.

She also refused to take ownership over the memos advocating the less restrictive language.

"What I did was to advance the policy of the president," she said.

Kagan also said ACOG couldn't identify any circumstances in which the procedure was the only one that could be used in a given case but could find situations in which it was least riskiest procedure for women.

"There did come a time when we saw a draft statement that stated the first of these things which we knew ACOG to believe, but not the second, which we also knew ACOG to believe," she said. "And I had some discussions with ACOG about that draft.

"And so we knew that ACOG thought of both of these things," she said. "We informed President Clinton of that fact."

Kagan said the "disaster" would have been a statement that didn't reflect the group's two beliefs.

Hatch wasn't satisfied with her explanation.

"Well, I'll tell you this bothers me a lot because I know that there are plenty of doctors in ACOG who did not believe that partial-birth abortion was an essential procedure and who believed that it was really a brutal procedure and it was a constant conflict there," he said.

"That's something that does bother me because it would be a disaster, you wrote, because ACOG opposed the ban on partial-birth abortion. If anyone ever found out -- and you wrote that it could leak -- even if ACOG did not officially release its original statement, it could have negative political consequences," Hatch said.

Dr. Manny Alvarez, a Fox News contributor, said he was "disappointed" and "outraged" that Kagan would revise the group's statement, calling it "highly inappropriate."

"Here you have an operative at the White House influencing a society that should be independent," he said. "It's disappointing."

Alvarez said Kagan should have told the group to be balanced in its statement instead of allowing it to "plagiarize" her language.

"At the end of the day, they're not serving the American people correctly nor serving the medical community correctly."

Americans United for Life, a group that opposes abortion, expressed concern about Kagan's testimony.

"There are serious discrepancies between her statements to Sen. Hatch and the documented evidence of her actions in December 1996," Charmaine Yoest, president and chief executive of Americans United for Life.

Yoest said senators need to ask Kagan why she thought it was appropriate to interfere in the positions of medical organizations.

"Further, does the lack of any evidence of harm to a woman's health because of the unavailability of partial-birth abortion for the past three years affect her perspective on the issue?" she said. "Does Kagan still believe that partial-birth abortion is necessary to protect a woman's health? If so, what is her factual basis to support this?"

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/30/kagan-defends-revising-medical-groups-statement-partial-birth-abortion/
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on June 30, 2010, 09:45:28 PM
Sounds like she supports partial birth abortion.  What a surprise.   ::)


Kagan Defends Revising Medical Group's Statement on Partial-Birth Abortion
Published June 30, 2010
FOXNews.com

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan gestures as she testifies at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill June 29. (Reuters Photo)

In a rare moment of drama in her confirmation hearings, Supreme Court Justice nominee Elena Kagan was forced to defend her revision of an obstetrician group's policy statement on partial-birth abortion while she was an adviser in the Clinton White House.

As a Republican-controlled Congress in the 1990s debated whether to ban the controversial procedure, Kagan wrote a memo in which she expressed concern about a statement that the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologist was going to release that revealed its panel of experts found no circumstances in which the procedure was the only option for saving the life of the woman.

"This, of course, would be a disaster," she wrote.

Kagan revised the language so the final statement in 1997 said that the partial-birth abortion "may be the best and most appropriate procedure in particular circumstances to save the life or preserve the health of the woman."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told Kagan on Wednesday "that's a very different spin and obviously a more politically useful spin."

"Your language played an enormous role in both legal and political fights over banning partial-birth abortion," he said. "The political objective of keeping partial-birth abortion legal appears to have trumped what a medical organization originally wrote and left to its own scientific inquiry and that they had concluded."

Congress passed a ban on the procedure twice in the 1990s but President Clinton vetoed it both times. The procedure was finally banned in 2003 when President Bush signed it into law. The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban in 2007 in a 5-4 ruling.

On Wednesday, Kagan disputed Hatch's version of the events, but admitted that she did speak with ACOG to revise the statement.

She also refused to take ownership over the memos advocating the less restrictive language.

"What I did was to advance the policy of the president," she said.

Kagan also said ACOG couldn't identify any circumstances in which the procedure was the only one that could be used in a given case but could find situations in which it was least riskiest procedure for women.

"There did come a time when we saw a draft statement that stated the first of these things which we knew ACOG to believe, but not the second, which we also knew ACOG to believe," she said. "And I had some discussions with ACOG about that draft.

"And so we knew that ACOG thought of both of these things," she said. "We informed President Clinton of that fact."

Kagan said the "disaster" would have been a statement that didn't reflect the group's two beliefs.

Hatch wasn't satisfied with her explanation.

"Well, I'll tell you this bothers me a lot because I know that there are plenty of doctors in ACOG who did not believe that partial-birth abortion was an essential procedure and who believed that it was really a brutal procedure and it was a constant conflict there," he said.

"That's something that does bother me because it would be a disaster, you wrote, because ACOG opposed the ban on partial-birth abortion. If anyone ever found out -- and you wrote that it could leak -- even if ACOG did not officially release its original statement, it could have negative political consequences," Hatch said.

Dr. Manny Alvarez, a Fox News contributor, said he was "disappointed" and "outraged" that Kagan would revise the group's statement, calling it "highly inappropriate."

"Here you have an operative at the White House influencing a society that should be independent," he said. "It's disappointing."

Alvarez said Kagan should have told the group to be balanced in its statement instead of allowing it to "plagiarize" her language.

"At the end of the day, they're not serving the American people correctly nor serving the medical community correctly."

Americans United for Life, a group that opposes abortion, expressed concern about Kagan's testimony.

"There are serious discrepancies between her statements to Sen. Hatch and the documented evidence of her actions in December 1996," Charmaine Yoest, president and chief executive of Americans United for Life.

Yoest said senators need to ask Kagan why she thought it was appropriate to interfere in the positions of medical organizations.

"Further, does the lack of any evidence of harm to a woman's health because of the unavailability of partial-birth abortion for the past three years affect her perspective on the issue?" she said. "Does Kagan still believe that partial-birth abortion is necessary to protect a woman's health? If so, what is her factual basis to support this?"

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/30/kagan-defends-revising-medical-groups-statement-partial-birth-abortion/

do you have some specific problem with "intact dilation and extraction" or do you have some issue with abortion itself and don't really bother yourself with "teh details"
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 01, 2010, 04:34:05 AM
How about the fact that she committed fraud to push her views?
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 01, 2010, 01:25:29 PM
She sounds like a leftwing extremist. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 01, 2010, 05:08:40 PM
The public is underwhelmed. 

Fox News Poll: Views Are Mixed on Confirming Kagan to Supreme Court
By Dana Blanton
Published July 01, 2010
FoxNews.com
AP


Democratic support for President Obama's most recent Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is matched by Republican opposition to her confirmation, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday.

In addition, a majority of voters say they would rather that any justices considering retirement wait to do so until the president's successor takes office.

The poll shows 64 percent of Democrats say they would vote to confirm Kagan, while 61 percent of Republicans say they would vote no.

Overall, 38 percent of American voters would vote to confirm Kagan to the high court, while 36 percent would vote against her. Twenty-six percent of those surveyed said they are unsure.

Among independents, 38 percent would vote for Kagan and 35 percent against. The remaining 27 percent are undecided.

Women (41 percent) are more likely than men (34 percent) to say they would support Kagan’s confirmation. If she is confirmed, there would be three women sitting on the court for the first time. Kagan would join Justice Sonya Sotomayor, President Obama’s first nominee, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who was nominated by former President Bill Clinton.

Obama chose Kagan to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, who announced his retirement on April 9. Her Senate confirmation hearings started Monday and are expected to continue through the end of the week.

The national telephone poll was conducted for Fox News by Opinion Dynamics Corp. among 900 registered voters from June 29 to June 30 (during the same week as the confirmation hearings). For the total sample, the poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Without the aid of her title or additional explanation, many Americans are unfamiliar with Elena Kagan by name. More voters have a favorable opinion of her (24 percent) than have an unfavorable view (17 percent). Another 19 percent are unable to rate Kagan, and 40 percent say they have never heard of her.

Most Americans Think Two Is Enough for Obama

Obama has been in office about a year and a half and has already had the opportunity to fill two of the nine seats on the U.S. Supreme Court because of retirements. Four sitting justices are currently over 70 years old.

Thirty-four percent of American voters would like to see more justices retire while Obama is in office to give him the opportunity to nominate more judges. But a 54 percent majority would rather any justices considering retirement wait to do so until his successor takes office. Even 20 percent of Democrats say they would rather future retirements wait for Obama’s successor, and 58 percent of independents and 87 percent of Republicans agree.

Click here to see the raw data

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/01/fox-news-poll-views-mixed-confirming-kagan-supreme-court/
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on July 01, 2010, 07:53:10 PM
The public is underwhelmed. 

since when does the public matter on SC nominations?
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 02, 2010, 04:58:08 AM
since when does the public matter on SC nominations?

It mattered with Harriet Meyers and so far Kagan is barely better than she was. 

Kagan is a joke and am embarassment. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Straw Man on July 02, 2010, 07:57:56 AM
It mattered with Harriet Meyers and so far Kagan is barely better than she was. 

Kagan is a joke and am embarassment. 

No it did't

It was Bush's fellow Republicans that made it clear even they couldn't hold their nose and rumber stamp that decision by The Decider
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 02, 2010, 08:12:13 AM
No it did't

It was Bush's fellow Republicans that made it clear even they couldn't hold their nose and rumber stamp that decision by The Decider

And I was one of them and made many calls protesting that horrific pick.  I wish the dems would do the same with Kagan, who obviously is not suitable to the court. 

Even Spectre is pissed off at the charade her hearings became.   
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 02, 2010, 12:35:45 PM
Hatch to oppose Kagan nomination
Posted: July 2nd, 2010

From CNN's Charles Riley
 
Sen. Orrin Hatch announced Friday that he will not support Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court.
Washington (CNN) – Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch will oppose the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, he said Friday.

Hatch, the Republican former chairman and current member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, characterizes Kagan as a "good person" and "brilliant scholar," before saying "I cannot support her appointment to the Supreme Court."

"Qualifications for judicial service include both legal experience and, more importantly, the appropriate judicial philosophy," Hatch says in a statement. "The law must control the judge; the judge must not control the law. I have concluded that, based on evidence rather than blind faith, General Kagan regrettably does not meet this standard and that, therefore, I cannot support her appointment."


Hatch supported Kagan's nomination to her current post of solicitor general, but says that Kagan does not meet "the standard I have always used for judicial nominees."

Hatch also opposed the nomination of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, but before that, the veteran Republican voted for every high court nominee in his long Senate career, including President Clinton's two liberal choices, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

Largely mirroring the most pointed lines of questioning that Kagan faced during her confirmation hearings, Hatch cites judicial activism and controversial decisions made by Kagan while she was Dean of Harvard Law School as areas of concern.

"Over nearly 25 years, General Kagan has endorsed, and praised those who endorse, an activist judicial philosophy. I was surprised when she encouraged us at the hearing simply to discard or ignore certain parts of her record. I am unable to do that," Hatch said before adding "As Dean of Harvard Law School, she blocked the access by military recruiters that federal law requires. And she took legal positions on important issues such as freedom of speech that could undermine the liberties of all Americans."

Hatch faces re-election in 2012, in a conservative state that saw its junior senator, Robert Bennett, defeated by more conservative candidates in this year's GOP primary process.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/02/hatch-to-oppose-kagan-nomination/?fbid=XPBeW4MfwYo#more-111675
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 04, 2010, 09:36:52 AM
Two more GOP senators to oppose Kagan
Posted: July 2nd, 2010

From CNN's Charles Riley

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that he will oppose the nomination of Elena Kagan.

Washington (CNN) - Two more Republican senators have announced they will oppose Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski both issued statements Friday afternoon indicating their opposition to Kagan's nomination. The announcements come hours after Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch indicated he would oppose Kagan's nomination.

McConnell said Kagan was "far from forthcoming in discussing her own views on basic principles of American constitutional law" during this week's confirmation hearings.


"I do not have confidence that if she were confirmed to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court she would suddenly constrain the ardent political advocacy that has marked much of her adult life," McConnell said. "The American people expect a justice who will impartially apply the law, not one who will be a rubberstamp for the Obama administration or any other administration. For these reasons, I will oppose Ms. Kagan's confirmation."

In announcing her opposition, Murkowski bemoaned the lack of geographic diversity and the small number of law schools represented on the court.

"Ms. Kagan, like this administration's last nominee, Justice Sotomayor, is a native of New York City. Although she spent a portion of her career in Chicago, most of her career has been spent 'inside the beltway' of Washington, D.C., and Cambridge, Massachusetts on the campus of Harvard University," Murkowski said. "If confirmed, six of the nine Supreme Court Justices will be from the Northeast United States, and only three law schools of the 199 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association will be represented on the high court-Harvard, Yale and Columbia law schools."

Murkowski did not support Kagan's nomination to her current post of solicitor general, and said Kagan is not qualified for the Supreme Court do to her lack of experience as either a judge or practicing lawyer.

"It is not essential that a Supreme Court nominee have experience as a judge but those who lacked that experience had substantial experience in the practice of law. Ms. Kagan has spent the bulk of her career as an academic, a university administrator and policy advisor. For the reasons I have cited here, I plan to oppose her nomination when it comes before the Senate," Murkowski said.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/02/two-more-gop-senators-to-oppose-kagan/?fbid=54YJ106g8kS#more-111728
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 04, 2010, 04:43:12 PM
Kagan would be a complete embarassment to the Court.  She makes Sotomayor look like Oliver Wendall Holmes.   
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 06, 2010, 08:29:25 AM

Bad news for Obama: Conservative Justice Kennedy tells pals he's in no rush to leave Supreme Court
BY Thomas M. Defrank
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

Originally Published:Tuesday, July 6th 2010, 4:00 AM
Updated: Tuesday, July 6th 2010, 10:19 AM

________________________ ________________________ __________

 
Wilson/Getty; Miller for NewsSupreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (left) likely will be around to provide a fifth vote for the court's conservative bloc through the 2012 election, which is bad news for President Obama. Take our PollThe Supremes
Do you like the current makeup of the Supreme Court?

WASHINGTON - President Obama may get liberal Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court, but conservative swing-voter Anthony Kennedy says he's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Justice Kennedy, who turns 74 this month, has told relatives and friends he plans to stay on the high court for at least three more years - through the end of Obama's first term, sources said.

That means Kennedy will be around to provide a fifth vote for the court's conservative bloc through the 2012 presidential election. If Obama loses, Kennedy could retire and expect a Republican President to choose a conservative justice.

Kennedy, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, has been on the court 22 years. He has become a bit of a political nemesis at the White House for his increasing tendency to side with the court's four rock-ribbed conservative justices.

Without naming Kennedy, Obama was unusually critical of his majority opinion in the Citizens United case, handed down last January. That 5-4 decision struck down limits on contributions to political campaigns as an abridgement of free speech.

Obama called the ruling "a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power ... in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans."

He was so angry that he took the unusual step of blasting the decision in his Jan. 27 State of the Union address, with Kennedy and five other justices looking on.

The White House has made Citizens United a populist rallying cry for Democrats, who hope to cut into projected Republican gains in the November elections by painting the GOP as guardians of the rich and powerful.

With the retirement of fellow Californian and Stanford graduate Sandra Day O'Connor in 2006, Kennedy has inherited O'Connor's mantle as the court's swing vote.

His voting pattern suggests he's actually become a far more reliable vote for the conservatives.

A Supreme Court spokeswoman said Justice Kennedy could not be reached for comment

tdefrank@nydailynews.com

 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/07/06/2010-07-06_holdin_court_at_73_justice_kennedy_tells_pals_hes_not_retiring_for_years__thats_.html#ixzz0sus3ngct
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 06, 2010, 01:58:48 PM
Statement of Peter B. Hegseth

before the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

concerning

"The Nomination of Elena Kagan to be an Associate

Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States"

July 1, 2010

Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Sessions, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. It's a privilege to take part in these proceedings.

My name is Pete Hegseth and I am the Executive Director of Vets for Freedom, an organization of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans dedicated to supporting America's war-fighters, and their mission on the battlefield. I received my commission from Princeton University in 2003, and have since served two tours with the U.S. Army, first at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and later in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division.  I'm currently an infantry Captain in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, and a graduate student at Harvard University. I'm before this committee today as a citizen and a veteran, and do not purport to speak on behalf of the military.

I will start with the bottom line up front. We are a nation at war; at war with a vicious enemy, on multiple fronts. I've seen this enemy first hand, as have a precious few from my generation. The enemy we face detests, and seeks to destroy, our way of life while completely ignoring, and exploiting, the laws of warfare.

This context motivates my testimony today. I have serious concerns about Elena Kagan's actions toward the military, and her willingness to myopically focus on preventing the military from having institutional and equal access to top-notch recruits at a time of war. I find her actions toward military recruiters at Harvard unbecoming a civic leader, and unbefitting a nominee to the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Kagan is clearly a very capable academic, and the President has the right to nominate whomever he pleases. But in replacing the only remaining veteran on the Supreme Court in Justice John Paul Stevens-how did we reach a point in this country where we are nominating someone who-unapologetically-obstructed the military at a time of war?  Ms. Kagan chose to use her position of authority to impede, rather than empower, the warriors who fight, and have fallen, for our freedoms.

I know a number of my fellow veterans will testify to Ms. Kagan's personal support of veterans on Harvard's campus. And Ms. Kagan has had good things to say about our troops, which I appreciate. But, for my money, actions always speak louder than words. And Ms. Kagan's actions toward recruiters-with wars raging-undercut the military's ability to fight and win wars, and they trump her rhetorical explanations.

General David Petraeus, who wrote the book on counterinsurgency and is now tasked with waging war in Afghanistan, calls counterinsurgency "a thinking man's war." Defeating our enemies, on the battlefield and in the courtroom, takes the best America has to offer. Yet in December of 2004 as you've heard many times already, Ms. Kagan-then Dean of the Harvard Law School-took the law into her own hands, blocking equal access for military recruiters on campus, in direct violation of federal law. Moreover, she even encouraged students to protest, and obstruct, the presence of military recruiters.

These actions coincided with my deployment to Guantanamo Bay; itself a legal maze of graduate-level proportions. Would not the legal situation there, and in the courtrooms of Iraq and Afghanistan, be better off with more participation from lawyers of Harvard Law School caliber? Don't we believe our best and brightest should be encouraged to serve?

In response to his critique, Ms. Kagan has repeatedly stated that, despite her decision to bar recruiters from the Office of Career Services, the number of military recruits actually increased during her tenure. Let's be clear. This happened in spite of Ms. Kagan, not because of her. But I ask a more important question: would not the number have been even higher had she supported recruiters, rather than actively opposing them?

To be fair, I don't begrudge Ms. Kagan's opposition to the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" legislation; reasonable people disagree about this policy. However, her fierce and activist opposition to the policy was intellectually dishonest and unnecessarily focused on the military.

In emails to students and statements to the press, Ms. Kagan slammed "the military's discriminatory recruitment policy." Yet as a legal scholar, she knows better.  She knows that the policy she "abhors" is not the military's policy, but a policy enacted by Congress and imposed on the military. In fact, after the law was passed, Ms. Kagan went to work for the very man who signed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" into law-President Bill Clinton. So, for her to call it "the military's policy" is intellectually dishonest, and her opposition to military recruiters at Harvard Law School had the effect of shooting the messenger.

Likewise, while Ms. Kagan sought to block full access to military recruiters, she welcomed to campus numerous Senators and Congressmen who voted for the law she calls "a moral injustice of the first order." Additionally, Harvard Law School has three academic chairs endowed by money from Saudi Arabia, a country where being a homosexual is a capitol offense.  So, rather than confront the Congressional source of the policy-or take a stand against a country that executes homosexuals-Ms. Kagan zeroed in on military recruiters for a policy they neither authored, nor emphasized.

In closing, the real "moral injustice" is granting a lifetime appointment to someone who, when it mattered, treated military recruiters like second-class citizens. I urge you to consider this as you consider Ms. Kagan. Thank you for the opportunity to address this important topic, and I welcome your questions.

 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 08, 2010, 12:36:08 PM
Sen. McCain: I will not support Kagan
By John McCain

In 1987, I had my first opportunity to provide "advice and consent" on a Supreme Court nominee. At that time, I stated that the qualifications essential for evaluating a nominee for the bench included "integrity, character, legal competence and ability, experience, and philosophy and judicial temperament." On that test, Elena Kagan fails.

When Kagan was dean of Harvard Law School, she unmistakably discouraged Harvard students from considering a career in the military —even while claiming to do otherwise — by denying military recruiters the same access to Harvard students that was granted to white-shoe law firms. Kagan did so because she believed the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy to be "a profound wrong — a moral injustice of the first order."

While Kagan is entitled to her opinion, she was not entitled to ignore the law that requires universities to allow military recruiters on campus under terms of equal access with all other recruiters. The chief of recruiting for the Air Force's Judge Advocate General Corps described the impact of Kagan's changes by saying that "Harvard is playing games." The Army's report from that same period was even more blunt, stating, "The Army was stonewalled at Harvard."

Kagan tried to justify her actions in terms of Harvard's anti-discrimination policy and sought a compromise by asking the law school's Veterans Association to host military recruiters. However, the association responded to the dean, "Given our tiny membership, meager budget, and lack of any office space, we possess neither the time nor the resources ... of the Harvard Law School Office of Career Services." An Air Force recruiter wrote Pentagon officials, "Without the support of the Career Services Office, we are relegated to wandering the halls in hopes that someone will stop and talk to us."

'The facts are otherwise'

Kagan's claim that she was bound by Harvard's anti-discrimination policy is belied by the fact that her predecessor allowed military recruiters full official access — a policy Kagan changed. And while Kagan barred military recruiters' access to the school, Harvard continued to receive millions of dollars in federal aid.

During her confirmation hearing last week, Kagan asserted that Harvard Law School was "never out of compliance with the law ... in fact, the veterans association did a fabulous job of letting all our students know that the military recruiters were going to be at Harvard." She went on to assert, "The military at all times during my deanship had full and good access." The facts are otherwise.

While I strongly disagree with Kagan, I take no issue in terms of her nomination with her opposition to President Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. She is free to have her own opinion. Kagan was not free, however, to ignore the Solomon Amendment's requirement to provide military recruiters equal access because she and many of her colleagues opposed "don't ask, don't tell." In short, she interpreted her duties as dean at Harvard to be consistent with what she wished the law to be, not with the law as written.

'Beyond public advocacy'

In the end, Kagan's interpretation of the Solomon Amendment was soundly rejected by the Supreme Court. By changing the policy she inherited and restricting military recruiter access when the prevailing law was to the contrary, Kagan stepped beyond public advocacy in opposition to a policy and into the realm of usurping the prerogative of the Congress and the president to make law and the courts to interpret it.

I have previously stated that I do not believe judges should stray beyond their constitutional role and act as if they have greater insight than representatives who are elected by the people. Given the choice to uphold a law that was unpopular with her peers and students or interpret the law to achieve her own political objectives, she chose the latter. I cannot support her nomination to the Supreme Court where, based on her prior actions, it appears unlikely that she would exercise judicial restraint.

On the main campus of Harvard University stands Memorial Church, dedicated to the memory of Harvard's veterans who laid down their lives for their country, including some from the greatest families in American history, such as the Roosevelts and the Kennedys. During this Independence Day holiday week, we should also honor those who encouraged our military men and women to serve our country and a cause greater than themselves.

Let us hope that the day will come when leaders of our country's most elite schools fully embrace military service and encourage their students to commit their lives and talents to their nation and one of its great institutions, the U.S. military.

John McCain is a Republican senator from Arizona.
 
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-07-08-column08_ST2_N.htm
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 15, 2010, 10:17:12 AM
Specter criticizes Kagan but says he'll support confirmation
Posted: July 15th, 2010

From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

Sen. Arlen Specter is announcing his support for Elena Kagan's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Washington (CNN) – Pointing to Solicitor General Elena Kagan's support for televising Supreme Court arguments and her affinity for the late Justice Thurgood Marshall, Sen. Arlen Specter says that Kagan has done 'just enough' to win his support for her high court nomination.

In a largely critical editorial in USA Today, Specter took issue with much of the way Kagan handled herself during her recent confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a panel on which Specter sits.

"Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan did little to undo the impression that nominating hearings are little more than a charade in which cautious non-answers take the place of substantive exchanges," Specter writes in the op-ed.

The Republican-turned-Democrat criticizes Kagan for failing to provide any real insights to her judicial philosophy in general and her specific views on a number of legal issues, many of which have to do with the basis and extent of congressional authority.

But Specter praised Kagan's support for televising high court arguments. "Her testimony recognized that the court is a public institution that should be available to all Americans, not just the select few who can travel to Washington," Specter writes of Kagan's belief that cameras should be allowed in the nation's most prestigious courtroom.

Specter says this position, along with Kagan's respect for the late Justice Marshall, are enough –notwithstanding his other concerns about her nomination.

"In addition to her intellect, academic and professional qualifications, Kagan did just enough to win my vote by her answers that television would be good for the country and the court, and by identifying Justice Marshall as her role model," the Pennsylvania senator writes.

Specter, who left the GOP and ran for re-election as a Democrat, was defeated in the primary by Rep. Joe Sestak.

When Kagan's nomination to be solicitor general came before the Senate last year, Specter voted against her.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/15/specter-criticizes-kagan-but-says-hell-support-confirmation/?fbid=54YJ106g8kS#more-113220
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 17, 2010, 11:51:14 AM
Sen. Sessions Questions Kagan Role in Abortion Veto
Saturday, 17 Jul 2010
 
Sen. Jeff Sessions says Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan misled senators about her role in former President Bill Clinton's decision to veto a bill banning partial-birth abortions.

Clinton vetoed the bill in 1996, when Kagan was a White House adviser. According to LifeNews.com, Kagan's recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee made it seem like she was merely a neutral adviser in the administration's debate over the bill. But a report by Americans United for Life paints a different picture

“President Clinton seems to have been disposed to sign the ban, and Ms. Kagan seems to have persuaded him to reverse that position,” LifeNews.com quotes Sessions, R-Ala., as saying.. “In her testimony, Kagan clearly presented herself as a neutral staffer in the process, though this record suggests she was an active player in working to keep partial-birth abortion legal. ...

"The debate over the legislation — in which Ms. Kagan played a major role — was intense, and the vote was much contested. I look forward to studying the facts carefully in an effort to fairly evaluate this contradiction."

To read the full LifeNews.com story -- Go Here Now.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/jeff-sessions-elena-kagan-partial-birth-abortion-supreme-court/2010/07/17/id/364924
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 17, 2010, 01:24:26 PM
Kagan - is another disgraceful example of why progressive communists should never ever be elected.

________________________ ____________________


Americans Favor Confirming Kagan to High Court, 44% to 34%Would be first recent nominee to win approval with less than majority public supportby Jeffrey M. Jones


PRINCETON, NJ -- More Americans want the Senate to vote for rather than against Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court, but the percentage in favor is less than a majority. Support for Kagan's confirmation remains essentially the same as it was before her June confirmation hearings.



Typically, support for nominees does not change much after their hearings. Instead, Gallup usually finds increases in the percentage of Americans opposed and decreases in the percentage with no opinion. The percentage without an opinion on the Kagan nomination was the same before and after her hearings, which may indicate these were not widely followed by the average American.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Kagan's nomination next week, with the full Senate voting later this summer. Kagan is expected to be confirmed, given the Senate's large Democratic majority.

Among the general public, a majority of self-identified Democrats, 68%, favor Kagan's confirmation, compared with 43% of independents and 21% of Republicans. A majority of Republicans, 60%, are opposed.

If confirmed, Kagan would be the first successful nominee in recent years whose nomination was backed by less than a majority of Americans in the final poll before the Senate confirmation vote (or, in the case of Harriet Miers, before her nomination was withdrawn).

In addition to Miers, Robert Bork is the other recent nominee whose support was less than 50%; the Senate voted against his nomination. Though Kagan's support, like that of Bork and Miers, is below 50%, Americans were more divided in their views of Bork and Miers. Also, Samuel Alito's support dipped to 49% after his nomination, but recovered to 54% just before his Senate confirmation vote.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted July 8-11, 2010, with a random sample of 1,020 adults, aged 18 and older, living in the continental U.S., selected using random-digit-dial sampling.

For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones (for respondents with a landline telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell phone-only). Each sample includes a minimum quota of 150 cell phone-only respondents and 850 landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.

Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, education, region, and phone lines. Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2009 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in continental U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

View methodology, full question results, and trend data.

For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit http://www.gallup.com/.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 17, 2010, 04:31:11 PM
I hope she gets Borked. 

Elections have consequences. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 19, 2010, 11:00:00 AM
Justice Integrity Project: 'No' on Kagan
Monday, 19 Jul 2010   
 
The Senate should reject Democrat Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination based on her shabby civil rights record that's apparent from her Department of Justice work, according to a Democratic former New Jersey legislator and Jersey City mayoral candidate.

Louis M. Manzo, drawing on his experience fighting one of the nation's most explosive political prosecutions, said the Senate should reject Kagan because of "her indefensible support of restrictions on constitutional freedoms and her failures to defend due process."

The bipartisan Justice Integrity Project (JIP) today released Manzo's statement by video to illustrate the project's objections to Kagan on similar executive power grounds. The civil rights project announced its objections on June 28, just before the Supreme Court thwarted Kagan's effort to block a hearing for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. Manzo's statement and similar constitutional criticisms of Kagan are available before Senate voting at JIP's unique website, which includes substantive criticism of her.

"While serving as Solicitor General arguing against certiorari in Siegelman v. United States, Kagan ignored constitutional protections provided by due process," Manzo said. "Also troubling is the manner by which Kagan feigned ignorance to what is frightfully apparent in Siegelman's case - prosecutorial misconduct. Instead of questioning the bizarre prosecution tactics employed against Siegelman, Kagan blindly supported positions taken by prosecutors with obvious personal and political agendas."

"What all cases involving wrongful prosecutions share in common," said Manzo, a target in the Bid Rig III case in New Jersey that helped propel Republican U.S. Attorney Chris Christie to New Jersey's governorship last fall, "is the necessity of a fair judicial system." In Bid Rig III, DOJ gave a felon large sums to donate to New Jersey campaigns such as Manzo's, with Democrats overwhelmingly indicted. Manzo won a major victory this spring when his trial judge dismissed the most serious charges.

Expanding on Manzo's themes, JIP Executive Director Andrew Kreig cited compelling evidence that Siegelman, 64, was framed by DOJ, which seeks to imprison him for 20 more years.

"The gist," said Kreig, "is that Kagan acted selfishly to advance her technocrat career, combining bad legal judgment with a monstrous cover-up. This opens a window to her other failings, which don't receive the attention they deserve. Senate confirmation these days is largely kabuki-style theater for the public, fostered by a bipartisan, back-scratching elite. Here, a president's loyalists seek to install one of their cronies over timid, partisan objections about a few special-interest topics. But we are skipping big issues about due process and our other basic liberties, which would inflame the public if ever fully aired."

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Justice--Integrity--Project--Kagan/2010/07/19/id/365009
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 19, 2010, 12:37:12 PM
Surgeon General Koop Urges No Vote on Kagan Based on Abortion Manipulation

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 19, 2010

  Email  RSS  Print   


Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop has written an extensive letter to members of the Senate calling for a no vote on the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan. The letter focuses attention on the Clinton administration memos Kagan authored showing her attempting to manipulate abortion opinion.

Specifically, Koop refers to the ways in which Kagan influenced the language of a 1997 statement by American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists on partial-birth abortions.

Whereas ACOG found no occasion in which the three-day-long abortion procedure is medically necessary for women, Kagan pressured ACOG to include language saying there may be instances where it is and the Supreme Court eventually relied on that language to overturn state bans on the abortion procedure.

That eventually kept partial-birth abortions legal for several years longer until the Supreme Court reversed itself when considering a national ban Congress approved with medical findings that partial-birth abortions are medically unnecessary.

In his letter, Koop calls "unethical" and "disgraceful" Kagan's effort to persuade the medical group to change its expert opinion to conform to her political demands.

"She was willing to replace a medical statement with a political statement that was not supported by any existing medical data," writes Koop.

"Kagan's political language, a direct result of the amendment she made to ACOG's Policy Statement, made its way into American jurisprudence and misled federal courts for the next decade," he said.

He condemns Kagan for having “manipulated the medical policy statement on partial-birth abortion of a major medical organization.”

“In my many decades of service as a medical doctor, I have never known of a case where partial-birth abortion was necessary in place of a more humane and ethical alternative,” the 93-year-old doctor continued. “I urge the Senate to reject the politicization of medical science and vote no on the Kagan nomination.”

Charmaine Yoest, the president of the pro-life group Americans United for Life, is heading to the Senate today to draw attention to Koop's letter and raising concerns about Kagan's "apparent willingness to distort the record" to obtain "the political outcome she wanted."

In her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kagan rejected the notion that she pressured any medical group.

“There was no way in which I would have or could have intervened with ACOG, which is a respected bodies of physicians, to get it to change its medical views on the question. The only question that we were talking about was whether this statement that they were going to issue accurately reflected the views that they had expressed to the president, to the president’s staff, to Congress and to the American public,” she said.


During questioning at the hearings, lawmakers questioned Kagan on memos she wrote during the Clinton administration “manipulating” the opinions of two medical groups that had said partial-birth abortions are never medically necessary for women.

Kagan also sought to influence the American Medical Association and get the AMA to revise its opinion that partial-birth abortions provide no medical benefit for women.

Senators asked Kagan about the memos during Judiciary Committee hearings and she explained her actions away by saying she wanted to help ACOG form a more accurate opinion.

After citing her role in lobbying the medical organizations, the Times says senators need to keep this in mind when they vote.


The memos are important because the Supreme Court initially relied on the opinion of the medical groups to overturn a state ban on partial-birth abortions that had no health exception.

Later, the Supreme Court reversed itself and said a national partial-birth abortion ban was constitutional and no health exception is necessary.


Pro-life groups have described Elena Kagan as the stereotypical judicial activist and abortion advocate.

She clerked for pro-abortion Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom she lauded, and her writings dating back to her college days are filled with accolades for judges who took the law into their hands and twisted it for a desired outcome rather than relying on the people through their elected officials.

Kagan helped Bill Clinton defend his veto of a partial-birth abortion ban -- the gruesome abortion procedure when a baby is birthed halfway and then jabbed in the head with medical scissors, killing him or her. She helped Clinton find political cover for his decision to keep those abortions legal.

Kagan went as far as advocating that the Clinton administration not only ignore but manipulate the opinion of a national medical group that said there was never any medical justification for killing unborn children halfway out of the birth canal.

Kagan has also lauded human cloning and assisted suicide and we can expect those gruesome practices to expand if she becomes the next Supreme Court justice.


Related web sites:
Koop's letter - http://i.usatoday.net/news/pdf/koop.pdf
Petition Against Kagan - http://www.iopposekagan.com
Facebook: Stop Kagan


Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 20, 2010, 01:45:45 PM
One Republican senator on the committee voted for Kagan and the president calls it a bipartisan vote?? 

Senate Panel Backs Kagan Nomination
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: July 20, 2010

WASHINGTON — Solicitor General Elena Kagan moved one step closer to becoming a Supreme Court justice on Tuesday when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13 to 6, almost entirely along party lines, to forward her nomination to the full Senate for consideration.

Just one Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, broke ranks with his party to support Ms. Kagan.

In a lengthy speech supporting her, Mr. Graham questioned the Senate’s approach to judicial confirmations, taking colleagues — including President Obama when he was a senator — to task for basing their votes on philosophy rather than a nominee’s qualifications and character.

Mr. Graham said that Ms. Kagan was not someone he would have chosen, “but the person who did choose — President Obama — I think chose wisely.”

In a statement, Mr. Obama called the vote “a bipartisan affirmation of her strong performance during her confirmation hearings” and thanked the committee for “giving her a thorough, timely and respectful hearing.”

If Ms. Kagan, 50, is confirmed by the full Senate, as expected, she would be the fourth woman to serve on the high court, and the only member of the current court not to reach it from a position on the federal appellate bench. A vote is expected before the August recess, so that Ms. Kagan can be seated before the court’s next term begins in early October.

Democrats on the committee, all of whom voted for Ms. Kagan, were largely laudatory, with one notable exception: Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. He said he was supporting Ms. Kagan, but with “grave concerns” because she had failed to “answer questions which I think ought to have been answered.”

In his three-decade career, Mr. Specter, a former Republican who once ran the Judiciary committee as its chairman, has voted on every justice now on the court. The committee hearing on Tuesday was something of a swan song for him — he was defeated in a Democratic primary and will be retiring at the end of the year — and he used the occasion to remind colleagues of Ms. Kagan’s critique of past confirmation hearings as a “vapid and hollow charade.” He said she had failed to live up to her own standard.

“She chastised nominees by name and castigated this committee,” Mr. Specter said, but “when she came before this committee, it was a repeat performance.”

Still, Mr. Specter said, his ultimate judgment rested on two of Ms. Kagan’s answers during her hearing: her expression of admiration for Justice Thurgood Marshall, the civil rights giant for whom she clerked, and her support for televising the court’s proceedings, a cause Mr. Specter has advocated for years.

The committee’s Republicans cited a number of reasons for voting against Ms. Kagan: her lack of judicial experience; her decision, while dean of Harvard Law School, to briefly bar military recruiters from the use of law school facilities; and her work as an aide to President Bill Clinton on matters relating to gun rights and abortion policy.

Senator Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican, complained of Ms. Kagan’s “strong commitment to far left ideological beliefs,” while Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the panel, accused Ms. Kagan of giving testimony that was “at best inaccurate and at worst intellectually dishonest” on the recruitment issue.

But it was Mr. Graham who provided the most intriguing moment of the day, with his provocative argument in favor of Ms. Kagan.

“No one spent more time trying to beat President Obama than I did, except maybe Senator McCain,” Mr. Graham said Tuesday, referring to the 2008 presidential election and Senator John McCain of Arizona, Mr. Obama’s Republican rival. “I missed my own election — I voted absentee. But I understood: we lost, President Obama won. The Constitution, in my view, puts a requirement on me not to replace my judgment for his.”

Mr. Graham said there were “100 reasons” he could vote against Ms. Kagan if he based his vote on her philosophy, which is at odds with his. But he said she met a time-honored standard for judicial nominees: whether they are qualified and of good character.

As a senator, Mr. Obama adopted a different standard, saying it was permissible to vote against a nominee based on judicial philosophy, not just qualifications. Mr. Graham said that approach undermined the judicial confirmation process, by making it more partisan.

“Something’s changing when it comes to the advice and consent clause,” he said. “Senator Obama was part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said that Mr. Graham’s remarks had made him rethink his own approach to judicial nominations — including the decision by Democrats several years ago to prevent Miguel Estrada, a prominent conservative lawyer, from getting a hearing before the committee when President George W. Bush nominated Mr. Estrada to a federal appeals court.

Mr. Estrada, a close friend of Ms. Kagan, has spoken strongly in support of her, and she has in turn spoken in support of him. Mr. Durbin said Tuesday that he now believed “Miguel Estrada deserves a day in court or a day before the committee.”

Of Mr. Graham, Mr. Durbin said: “I reflected on some of the things that I have said and how I have voted in the past, and thought that perhaps his statement suggested a better course.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/us/21kagan.html?src=mv
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 20, 2010, 02:44:20 PM
Durbin looks like real crap in that article. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 30, 2010, 03:33:53 PM
Sounds like a done deal.

Nelson to oppose Kagan, will vote for cloture
Posted: July 30th, 2010
From CNN's Charles Riley

Washington (CNN) – Sen. Ben Nelson said Friday that he will not support Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court, but will vote for the cloture, a move that will help bring the nomination to an up or down vote.

"As a member of the bipartisan 'Gang of 14,' I will follow our agreement that judicial nominees should be filibustered only under extraordinary circumstances," Nelson said in a statement. "If a cloture vote is held on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court, I am prepared to vote for cloture and oppose a filibuster because, in my view, this nominee deserves an up or down vote in the Senate."

But one yes vote doesn't lead to another, the Nebraska Republican said.

"However, I have heard concerns from Nebraskans regarding Ms. Kagan, and her lack of a judicial record makes it difficult for me to discount the concerns raised by Nebraskans, or to reach a level of comfort that these concerns are unfounded. Therefore, I will not vote to confirm Ms. Kagan's nomination," Nelson said.

The current solicitor general and former Harvard Law School dean is expected to easily win confirmation, but likely with less Republican support than the nine GOP votes Justice Sonia Sotomayor garnered a year ago.

On Wednesday, Sen. Olympia Snowe said she will vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the high court, making her the fourth Republican to come out in support of President Obama's nominee.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/30/nelson-to-oppose-kagan-will-vote-for-cloture/?fbid=54YJ106g8kS#more-115739
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 30, 2010, 03:40:59 PM
As far as I am concerned 2012 should be about the SC as much as any issue. 
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: chadstallion on July 31, 2010, 01:34:05 PM
if only a motorcade accident took place and C. Thomas and S. Alito were removed from humanity.  Then the fun would begin.  FOX would great a separate cable tv network just for the 24/7 coverage.
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on July 31, 2010, 05:51:17 PM
Sen. Ben Nelson Is First Democrat to Oppose Kagan
Friday, 30 Jul 2010
   
Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson says he'll vote against confirming Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court justice.

The Nebraskan's announcement in a statement posted Friday evening makes him the first Democrat to say he'll break with his party to oppose President Barack Obama's nominee.

Nelson says he's heard concerns from his constituents about Kagan, the 50-year-old solicitor general and former Harvard Law School dean. And he says her lack of judicial record makes it impossible to know whether their worries are unfounded.

The Senate is expected to vote next week on Kagan's nomination, and Democrats have more than enough votes to confirm her. Five Republicans have said they'll also vote "yes."

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/US-Kagan-Nelson/2010/07/30/id/366193
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on August 03, 2010, 01:50:37 PM
Final Arguments Begin Ahead of Kagan Confirmation Vote
Published August 03, 2010 | Associated Press
 
WASHINGTON -- A confirmation vote was all but assured for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as the Senate began debate on making her the fourth female justice.

Supporters and opponents painted vastly different portraits of the Supreme Court nominee on Tuesday, as they got their final say on the Senate floor before this week's vote to confirm her nomination. Confirming Kagan, 50, for a lifetime seat on the court is one of the last pieces of business senators will attend to before leaving for a monthlong vacation.

Democratic senators praised President Barack Obama's nominee as a highly qualified legal scholar who would add a sorely needed note of fairness and common sense to a court whose conservative majority, they argue, has run amok. Republicans charged she is an inexperienced cipher who would use her post to mold the law to her own liberal beliefs.

Despite the partisan divide, Kagan was on track for easy confirmation with the support of nearly all Democrats and a handful of Republican senators. In line to become the court's fourth woman, she is not expected to alter the panel's ideological balance of the court because she would succeed retired Justice John Paul Stevens, a leader of the court's liberal wing.

Kagan has served as the Obama administration's solicitor general.

"She made clear she'll base her approach to deciding cases on the law and the Constitution; not on politics, not on an ideological agenda," said Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The committee's senior Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions presented a harsh indictment of Kagan, calling her an unqualified, intellectually dishonest nominee who would pretend to be an objective judge but would seek to push her own agenda.

"I don't think it's a secret. I think this is pretty well known that this is not a judge committed to restraint, (or) objectivity," Sessions said. He said her past record and testimony indicate that she would be "an activist, liberal, progressive, politically minded judge who will not be happy simply to decide cases but will seek to advance her causes under the guise of judging."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/03/final-arguments-begin-ahead-kagan-confirmation-vote/
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on August 05, 2010, 03:10:30 PM
It is done.  And if you adopt the president's line of thinking, the five Republicans who voted for Kagan makes this a "bipartisan" vote. 

Senate approves Kagan for high court
By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
August 5, 2010
 
Washington (CNN) -- Solicitor General Elena Kagan was easily confirmed Thursday as the next associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, completing the 50-year-old native New Yorker's climb to the peak of the American legal profession.

The 63-37 vote was mostly along party lines. Five GOP senators backed Kagan, and only one Democrat -- Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska -- opposed her. Republican leaders offered spirited floor opposition to the nominee, but were unable to muster a prolonged delay or filibuster of the vote.

Kagan is set to begin a lifetime position as the nation's 112th justice. She will be sworn into office Saturday afternoon, taking the traditional constitutional and judicial oaths. The newest justice will then be able to assume her court duties immediately.

Her brisk confirmation was a political victory for President Barack Obama -- who placed Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the high court last year -- and for Senate Democrats.

Obama after the vote predicted Kagan will be an "outstanding Supreme Court justice," and thanked senators for giving his nominee a fair and timely hearing.

"They got a sense of her formidable intelligence, her rich understanding of our Constitution, her commitment to the rule of law, and her excellent and occasionally irreverent sense of humor," said the president. "And they have come to understand why, throughout her career, she has earned the respect and admiration of folks from across the political spectrum, an achievement reflected in today's bipartisan vote."

Kagan was the administration's solicitor general when Obama nominated her on May 10 to replace retired Justice John Paul Stevens. She will become the current court's youngest member and third woman.

White House and Justice Department sources said Kagan watched the confirmation vote on television at the Justice Department, with colleagues in the solicitor general's office.

During the final day of floor debate, Republicans continued to raise deep concerns over what they contended was Kagan's lack of judicial experience, her views on gun rights, and her past work inside the Clinton White House.

Kagan's biography They said that she will become a judicial "activist" intent on twisting the law to fit her personal political agenda.

"Throughout Ms. Kagan's career she has put her politics above the law," said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and leader of opposition to Kagan.

"The American people will not easily forgive this Senate if we confirm Ms. Kagan to the Supreme Court. They will not easily forgive the Senate if we further expose our Constitution to revision and rewrite by judicial fiat."

Among other things, Republicans have repeatedly slammed Kagan's handling of military recruiters seeking access to the Harvard Law School campus earlier this decade, when Kagan served as dean. Kagan has said she staunchly opposes the military's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military.

One last-minute "no" vote came from Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, the chamber's newest Republican.

"I believe nominees to the Supreme Court should have previously served on the bench," said Brown, generally considered to be a key moderate.

"Lacking that, I look for many years of practical courtroom experience to compensate for the absence of prior judicial experience. In Elena Kagan's case, she is missing both.

"The best umpires," he said, referencing to a popular line from Chief Justice John Roberts' confirmation hearings, "must not only call balls and strikes, but also have spent enough time on the playing field to know the strike zone."

Brown, who replaced the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy in February, had earlier effusively praised Kagan, and personally introduced her at the start of her confirmation hearings in June.

Kagan lived in Massachusetts for several years before becoming solicitor general.

Democrats argued that Kagan possesses the intelligence and professional background necessary to be a force on the high court. They said they hope she will help counter what many on the left contend are excessively conservative court rulings that defy the will of Congress while hurting individual workers and voters.

When confirmed, "average Americans will be a step closer to once again having their voices heard in the highest court in the land," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York.

"Elena Kagan is a role model for so many women entering the legal profession today," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California.

"Her intellect, other broad range of legal experience, her sense of fairness (and) her profound respect for the law make her well-qualified to serve as an associate justice of the court."

Conservative opposition to Kagan failed to resonate this election year, a stark contrast to the heated Supreme Court confirmation battles of Roberts and Samuel Alito in 2005. Television and radio ads from advocacy groups were few, and serious grassroots outrage never materialized.

Administration officials painted Kagan as a moderate liberal, and many legal analysts seemed to agree she was a politically safe pick for Obama.

"The president probably got exactly what he wanted, and that's not someone who makes either the far right or the far left terribly happy. She seems to be a centrist, pragmatic progressive -- someone who's on the left but not the extreme left," said Thomas Goldstein, a top Washington lawyer and founder of the Web site scotusblog.com.

"She's a nominee without much of a track record, and therefore not much to attack. And the air really went entirely out of the balloon when trying to draw attention to her, maybe paint her as a liberal, or create her as an issue for the upcoming elections in November."

Kagan was born in Manhattan in 1960, one of three children of a lawyer father and schoolteacher mother. She graduated from Harvard Law School and served in a prestigious Supreme Court clerkship with the late Justice Thurgood Marshall.

While never a judge herself, Kagan's resume is diverse: work on Michael Dukakis' 1988 presidential campaign; a lawyer in private practice for two years; stints as a law professor and later, dean; four years as a legal and policy adviser in the Clinton White House; and most recently as solicitor general in the Obama Justice Department.

She supervised every federal appeal presented to the high court during her tenure at the Justice Department, and personally argued six cases before the same justices she will now count as colleagues.

Kagan will join a closely divided court that often splits in favor of a shaky 5-4 conservative majority. Despite no judicial record to draw clues on the kind of justice she would become, White House officials had quietly assured allies Kagan would be a "reliable" liberal vote similar to Stevens, the well-respected unofficial leader of the left-leaning bloc on the court.

She is, therefore, not expected to tilt the current ideological balance on the high court.

Among the cases she will confront in her first term beginning in October will be disputes over protests at military funerals, state bans on violent video games, and the death penalty. High-profile appeals that may reach the court in the next couple of years include Arizona's sweeping immigration reform law and California's ban on same-sex marriage.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/05/kagan.supreme.court/index.html?hpt=T1
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: chadstallion on August 07, 2010, 01:31:54 PM
now, if Clarence Thomas would just choke on a chicken bone or a large watermelon seed, and we can get one more on the jury the next two years....
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on August 07, 2010, 06:29:30 PM
now, if Clarence Thomas would just choke on a chicken bone or a large watermelon seed, and we can get one more on the jury the next two years....

Wow.  What an original thought.   ::)

“I hope his wife feeds him [Clarence Thomas, Justice, U.S. Supreme Court] lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease. . . . He is an absolutely reprehensible person.”

Julianne Malveaux
USA Today columnist, Pacifica Radio talk show host.
http://www.aim.org/wls/i-hope-clarence-thomas-dies/
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: Dos Equis on August 07, 2010, 06:54:09 PM
 :-\

(http://www.foxnews.com/images/root_images/080710_kaganNU_20100807_142640.jpg)
Title: Re: Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?
Post by: chadstallion on August 08, 2010, 11:38:56 AM
Wow.  What an original thought.   ::)

“I hope his wife feeds him [Clarence Thomas, Justice, U.S. Supreme Court] lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease. . . . He is an absolutely reprehensible person.”

Julianne Malveaux
USA Today columnist, Pacifica Radio talk show host.
http://www.aim.org/wls/i-hope-clarence-thomas-dies/

thank you. fried chicken, eggs, butter; as long as the end result is the same.