Kagan Follow-up

Kagan: a mirror image of Obama

Republicans should do whatever they can (however ineffectual that may be in the end, given their numbers and RINOs like Collins and Snowe) to derail the Kagan nomination. Maggie Gallagher offers some potent reasons for this.

A vote for Elena Kagan is a vote for “marriage equality,” which features in two key cases that will shortly be before the Supreme Court: Perry v. Schwarzenegger, which arises out of California’s Prop 8 but will apply to all 50 states, since it seeks to establish a federal constitutional right to gay marriage; and Gill et al. v. Office of Personnel Management, which seeks “only” to overturn the federal laws defining marriage as one man and one woman.

There has been an effort to obfuscate Kagan’s position on gay marriage using statements she made when nominated to be solicitor general, but these efforts are all either sad or laughable. Take, for instance, this Cornell law professor: He pretends to believe that, when Kagan stated that she has never taken a public position on whether the Constitution ought to be read as protecting gay marriage, she somehow meant that she believes the question should be left up to the political process. This is shameful to the author; he must know better.

Earlier today, I scanned a few mainstream media stories on Kagan's background and most, predictably, focused on her knack for "bringing people together". Have any conservative nominees ever been described in this manner?

In any event, one silver lining for the right is that the late-summer hearings are sure to galvanize the conservative movement in the run-up to the November midterms.