President Obama has nominated his Solicitor General, Elena Kagan to replace Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court. It’s an uninspiring choice based primarily on the fact that she’s been confirmed once by the Senate. Yawn.
I was hoping for someone younger and more liberal. Obama’s obsession with consensus shows in this pick. The Goopers will fight any nominee and he just named someone who’s unlikely to rouse the Democratic base out of its torpor. That’s a pity because for the Dems to do okay in the fall elections we need to convince the base that there’s a good reason to turn out. Looming battles with the Senate never deterred Republican Presidents from naming right wingers to the Court. For example, Robert Bork was defeated but his nomination roused the GOP base. Alas, we Democrats do things differently.
I was hoping for a politician or at least someone who wasn’t another Northeasterner. There’s apparently no young William O. Douglas to bestir my slumbering heart. The best thing I can say about Kagan is that she’s not another appellate court judge. Talk about damning with faint praise…
always a chance clarence could drop dead.
What more can we expect? 🙂
Not sure it is so “safe.”
The repugs are in high gear to slander her already. Looks like they figured they were too easy on Sotamayor.
“I was hoping for someone younger and more liberal.”
Kagan is fifty. She’s the youngest of the four people Obama is known to have interviewed, and would be the youngest member of the court if confirmed. Seriously–how much younger could she be and still be a plausible candidate for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court?
FDR appointed several Supremes between 35 and 45. Douglas was one of them and Black was another.
No justice has been younger than forty (Douglas). Black was fifty-one when appointed.