Saturday, May 08, 2010

Blame it on the president. He's a week too late to help...

Mike Allen: "Look for President Obama to name his Supreme Court pick Monday, and look for it to be Solicitor General Elena Kagan, a former Harvard Law dean. The pick isn't official, but top White House aides will be shocked if it's otherwise.

Kagan's relative youth (50) is a huge asset for the lifetime post. And President Obama considers her to be a persuasive, fearless advocate who would serve as an intellectual counterweight to Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia, and could lure swing Justice Kennedy into some coalitions The West Wing may leak the pick to AP's Ben Feller on the later side Sunday, then confirm it for others for morning editions."

Another sign: Salon reports the White House is circulating pro-Kagan talking points.

23 comments:

aprichard said...

I spent a while trying to figure out what the idealology of Elena Kagan was, but I found very little. As solicitor general, does the politician in this occupation disregard republican or democtratic views and stand on a middle ground to represent the U.S? (We know what a solicitor general is now.) I could not figure out what political alignment she had. I read some posts that talked about republicans supporting her, and democrats supporting her because Obama picked her even though they don't know her views. In essance, if the average republican and average democrat is accepting of Kagan, then it appears a good option. Otherwise, there is talk of a man named koh. I guess we'll know on monday...

Astoiber said...

im going to be sad if i lose my 5 on the exam bcoz of this solicitor general.

I think it is important for someone in this position to have fairly moderate views. it could be uproarious if their views offend a large number of citizens. but then again people will have to know what a solicitor general is.

j.polinski said...

I wish this article would have been up for us to comment on before the exam so we could have known what a solicitor general was ahead of time...but I liked how solicitor general was in caps and in size a million font...nice Mr. Bretzmann

Tereza said...

This is very interesting. I'm not sure of Kagan's ideology either. Her age and credentials are interesting. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out should she be Obama's pick. I'm not really sure what kind of comment you're looking for here, I'm hoping this is sufficient for all points. I'm going to have to boo the title of this post though. BOOOO! I'm not going to blame it on the president although he makes a great scapegoat.

Tereza said...

This is very interesting. I'm not sure of Kagan's ideology either. Her age and credentials are interesting. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out should she be Obama's pick. I'm not really sure what kind of comment you're looking for here, I'm hoping this is sufficient for all points. I'm going to have to boo the title of this post though. BOOOO! I'm not going to blame it on the president although he makes a great scapegoat.

klatour said...

Okay, let me be the one to say it...She's hideous. It's good that sHE has moderate views and is (relatively speaking) a young justice. At least there is one way people are slightly less likely to hate on her.


Tereza- I like how you incorporated booing in the blog. That takes true talent. :)

jmarczewski said...

Un. Freaking. Believable.

What else is there to say?

I know nothing about Elena Kagan. Other than she is the SOLICITOR GENERAL...which I still can't remember what the Solicitor General even does. But if President Obama picked her, she must be bad. Because everything he does is bad. That isn't a logical fallacy at all. Or an inaccurate, uninformed statement made in haste to complete a 5 point blogging assignment.

I have no idea what to say. Solicitor General...you have got to be kidding me!!!!

K-Iglinski said...

I believe that the solicitor general i not republic or democratic. They seem to be in the middle of the ideology spectrum. This however I beleave is a good thing. This allows her to be able to speak to both sides as well as the people who are moderate as well.

nsomers said...

I'm not sure that many people are going to agree with this choice because she has no previous judicial experience. She was the first woman dean for Harvard and the first woman soliciter general, but she has never been a judge before.

Unknown said...

elena kagan is slightly left leaning though isn't she and she will add some much needed diversity to the supreme court. now we have a person from the bronx!!! she will probably be approved and she has already garnered support from many different interest groups like the NAACP.

rlepak said...

I'm not sure what to make of this appointment. She has a career of being unbiased and interpreting the laws for what they are suppose to be. Also, she is only 50, so she has many years to dedicated to the court. However, she has never served as a judge before, and what if she is not prepared, or doesn't enjoy it, if she becomes a member of the bench.

Alex York said...

Poor president, getting ripped to shreds by jmarczeski because of jmarczeski's need to garner 5 pitiful points...

I think aprichard's points are interesting. She doesn't seem to have a lot of strong stands on any of the important issues of the day. I don't know how she will react to the big issues, but time will tell. As it always does. BOOOO!

AAgostini said...

I also don't quite know what to think of Elena Kagan. I cannot tell whether her views are moderate or whether they simply appear to be because there isn't a lot of information to elaborate. I agree that a moderate stance would probably be beneficial.However, it appears that currently many are forming opinions based on background information. I think her background, which varies from that of current justices, being relatively young and having not served as a judge before, could be beneficial. It is important that there be varying viewpoints among the justices.

Diana said...

The fact that she is young will help her have an even more sucessful career because she will have more years to work. Being moderate also helps her in that she can see both political parties views.

MKlinka said...

She isn't really all that young, 50 is almost a third of the way through her life. Also, I agree with Kate, she is not an attractive solicitor general at all. That being said, all the lesbian rubbish really is unimportant and doesn't matter as it has essentially nothing to do with her job or her ability to do her job well. I'm sure that she'll make a fine judge, as she has had experience with her post as solicitor general.

Brandon D said...

I think that it was a pretty decent appointment. Its good to see that she is young and can offer some good years to the court. Hopefully experience isnt too much of a factor.

morgank said...

Hopefully she will be able to get along with this new position okay without any previous experience as a judge. As others have said, her youth is a big advantage to her. She will have time to learn the ropes of the Supreme Court and hopefully become a positive influence for the country in the years to come.

JakeK said...

FACT: Elena Kagan was the dean of Harvard Law School.
FACT: Ralph Nader is a graduate of Harvard Law School.
FACT: Ralph Nader supports decriminalization of drugs.
FACT: Chris Farley died from a drug overdose.
FACT: Chris Farley made people laugh.

FACT: Elena Kagan hates laughter and happiness in general.

nsomers said...

So far it seems that most Americans are not happy that Obama chose Kagan. According to a poll from usnews.com almost half of the voters do not think she is fit for the role of Supreme Court Justice. Most said that they believe she is too liberal.

Unknown said...

he is showing very bad consistency with our apgopo curriculum. i also found another person is very inconsistent in their ideology. not political, but between how they teach. I am of course talking about our favorite Social Studies teacher. No not Mr. Rainey and this is not a fact or crap Mr. Capes. I am talking about Our Very Own Mr. bretzmann. I was @ Carrol Coll...University tonight and met the head boys soccer coach...and a very cute tan girl who plays for mr. bretzmann, but i won't say too much about her. they both said that He is a completely different person as a coach...and that is as Vague as i will go.

Unknown said...

that had a lot to do with elena Kagan but you know what shes more of a softball player than a soccer star

Unknown said...

I don't know much about Elena Kagan's ideology or her stand on different issues. I do know that she served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council where she dealt with the executive branch’s formulation, advocacy, and implementation of law and policy in education, crime, and public health. She may make a good addition to the Supreme Court.

cziolkowski said...

The quote "Blame it on the president" is used on every president, no matter who it is. Everytime something goes wrong with the country the first person to blame is the president even if they could not have done anything to stop it. Even other presidents blame each other for thing. President Obama was indirectly blaming former president Bush for the bad economy two years after he has been in office. But with the pick of Elena Kagan for solicitor general was a good move for the president. I think he had it planed to pick someone with no voting background on certain topics. I feel that she was picked because she would make decison most like the president and that is what you want if your the president.