WHAT TYPE OF JUSTICE WOULD KAGAN BE

[carol ann parisi]

kagan Says Committee Should “Look
To My Whole Life For Indications” But Her Life Reveals A Long Career As A
Political Operative

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ELENA KAGAN: “I Think You Can Look To My Whole Life For Indications Of What Kind Of A Judge Or Justice I Would Be.” (Judiciary Committee, U.S. Senate, Confirmation Hearing, 6/29/10)

1980:
Worked On Senate Campaign Of Noted Liberal Rep. Elizabeth Hotzman

When Democratic Rep. Holtzman Lost In 1980, Kagan Believed “The World Had Gone Mad, That Liberalism Was Dead.” “She spent a
summer working on the Senate race of New York Democratic Rep. Elizabeth
Holtzman; when Holtzman lost in the 1980 Republican sweep, Kagan cried.
As she later wrote, she believed ‘the world had gone mad, that
liberalism was dead.’” (“Nomination
Is No Surprise To Those Who Know Kagan,” USA Today, 5/11/10)

•    ELENA KAGAN: “The Defeat” Of Holtzman “By An Ultra-Conservative Machine Politician Just Come From The Town Of Hempstead Was Not A Pleasant Thing To Watch.”
“I worked for Liz Holtzman last summer — some 14 hours a day, six days a
week. So that night I was at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, attending
what I was fairly certain was going to be a celebration. Instead, it was
a wake. And let me tell you there is nothing more depressing than
drinking vodka and tonics and watching Walter Cronkite with 500 other
people whose expectations had differed similarly from reality. I got
kind of drunk that night. A lot of people did. Most of us had grown to
admire, even to love, Liz or rather, not Liz herself — actually, she was
not terribly personable — but her intelligence, her integrity, her
ideals. The defeat of those qualities by an ultra-conservative machine
politician just come from the town of Hempstead was not a pleasant thing
to watch.” (Elena
Kagan, “Fear And Loathing In Brooklyn,” The Daily Princetonian,
11/10/80)

Watching Holtzman’s Defeat, Kagan Hoped A “More Leftist Left Will Once Again Come To The Fore”

“In My More Rational Moments, I Can Now Argue That … Perhaps [A]
More Leftist Left Will Once Again Come To The Fore.”
“In my more rational moments, I can now argue that the next few years
will be marked by American disillusionment with conservative programs
and solutions, and that a new, revitalized, perhaps more leftist left
will once again come to the fore. ” (Emphasis In
Original; Elena Kagan, “Fear And Loathing In Brooklyn,” The Daily
Princetonian, 11/10/80)

1988: Worked “Conducting Research On The Opposition” For The Dukakis Campaign

“[Elena Kagan’s] Start In Politics Came In 1988, When She
Volunteered On Michael Dukakis' Campaign For President. A Self-Described
Flunky, She Worked In The Research Department, Defending Dukakis From
Political Attacks And Conducting Research On The Opposition.” (“She’s
A White House Veteran,” Los Angeles Times, 5/11/10)

1995-99: Worked “To Score Points Against The Republican Congress” In The Clinton White House
“Government Service: Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, 1997-1999. Associate Counsel to the President,
1995-1996.” (“Elena
Kagan - Nominee to be Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court,”
Judiciary Committee, U.S. Senate, Accessed 6/23/10)

ELENA KAGAN: “During Most Of The Time I
Spent In The White House, I Did Not Serve As An Attorney; I Was Instead A
Policy Adviser. … It Was Part Of My Job Not To Give Legal Advice, But
To Choose When And How To Ask For It.” (Elena
Kagan, Remarks At West Point, 10/17/07)

“E-Mails From Elena Kagan's Work As An Aide In The Clinton White
House Portray The Supreme Court Nominee As Driven And Opinionated, With
A Flair For Political Tactics And Little Tolerance For Flowery
Rhetoric. A Review Of The Tens Of Thousands Of Pages Of Her E-Mails
Released Friday Also Shows How Kagan Often Had To Place Political
Considerations Before Policy Views.” (“Clinton-Era
E-Mails Show Kagan’s Political Savvy,” AP, 6/21/10)

•    During “Her Stint As A Domestic Policy Aide…  She Suggested Transforming What Was Supposed To Be A Routine Literacy Event At A Maryland School Into A Chance To Score Points Against The
Republican Congress.” (“Clinton-Era
E-Mails Show Kagan’s Political Savvy,” AP, 6/21/10)

•    ELENA KAGAN On Campaign Finance Proposals:
“Soft $ Ban – Affects Repubs, Not Dems!” (Elena Kagan, Notes,
DPC – Box 006 – Folder 006, KCL – 0003690, Clinton Presidential Library,
2/3/97)

While Working In The Clinton Administration, Elena Kagan Claimed President Clinton’s Position On “Elective” Partial-Birth Abortion Was “A Problem” And Worked To Change
It

ELENA KAGAN: “I Worked For President Bill Clinton And We Tried To Implement His Policy Views And Objectives.”  (Judiciary
Committee, U.S. Senate, Confirmation Hearing, 6/29/10)

 

Kagan Said President Clinton’s Opposition To “Elective” Partial-Birth Abortion Was “A Problem”

MEMO TO PRESIDENT CLINTON: “MR. PRESIDENT: Attached is a memo from Leon, Jack, George and Nancy-Ann Min on the
partial birth abortion bill, setting forth four policy options and
attaching a proposed letter to Senator Hatch. DOJ believes that only
Option 4 is constitutional, while our Counsel’s office believes any of
Options 2-4 are constitutionally sound. In essence these are the
options:

 

1. No use of this procedure in pre- or post-viability stage unless
the abortion is being performed because the pregnancy itself threatens
life or serious adverse health consequences.

2. Same as Option 1 post-viability, but broader use pre-viability --
namely, if woman chooses an elective (non-health) abortion, she could
choose to use this procedure as long as the procedure (as opposed to
other procedures) were necessary to avert risk to life or serious
adverse health consequences.” (Memo, KCL – 0089762, Clinton Library,
2/5/96)

PRESIDENT CLINTON: “Leon [Panetta] agree w/ #1.”
(President Clinton, Note On Memo, KCL-0089762, Clinton Library, 2/5/96)

ELENA KAGAN: “You’re right – this is a problem. It seems as
if he wants Option 1 (which was also Leon’s preference). Call me
whenever. Elena.” (Elena Kagan, Note Regarding President’s Decision, KCL
– 0089758, Clinton Library, 2/96)

JACK QUINN: “E – HE DOES. JQ.” (Jack Quinn, Note
Regarding President’s Decision, KCL – 0089758, Clinton Library, 2/96)

Confirmation Conversion: Kagan On SCOTUS Hearings, Day 2

Kagan Previously Denounced Senators For “Limits On Inquiry” During SCOTUS Hearings But Now She Contends Even Discussing “Past Cases” “Wouldn’t Be Appropriate” ELENA KAGAN: “It Wouldn’t Be Appropriate For Me To Talk About What I Think About Past Cases, You Know, To Grade Cases Because Those Cases Themselves Might Again Come Before The Court.”  (Elena Kagan, Judiciary Committee, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 6/29/10)   FLASHBACK ELENA KAGAN: “The Problem Is Not That Senators Engage In Substantive Discussion With Supreme Court Nominees; The Problem Is That They Do Not. Senators Effectively Have Accepted The Limits On Inquiry. … The Challenge Now Is To Over-Throw Them.” “The problem is not that the Bork hearings have set a pattern for all others; the problem is that they have not. And the problem is not that senators engage in substantive discussion with Supreme Court nominees; the problem is that they do not. Senators effectively have accepted the limits on inquiry Carter proposes; the challenge now is to over-throw them.” (Elena Kagan, “Review: Confirmation Messes, Old and New,” The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol.62, No. 2 (Spring, 1995), P.942) •    KAGAN: “I Suspect That Both [Ginsburg And Breyer] Appreciated That, For Them (As For Most), The Safest And Surest Route To The Prize Lay In Alternating Platitudinous Statement And Judicious Silence. Who Would Have Done Anything Different, In The Absence Of Pressure From Members Of Congress? And Of Such Pressure, There Was Little Evidence.” (Elena Kagan, “Review: Confirmation Messes, Old and New,” The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol.62, No. 2 (Spring, 1995), P.928) ELENA KAGAN: “The Recent Hearings On Supreme Court Nominees” Have Taken “On An Air Of Vacuity And Farce.” “The recent hearings on Supreme Court nominees, though, suggest another question: might we now have a distinct and more troubling confirmation mess? If recent hearings lacked acrimony, they also lacked seriousness and substance. … When the Senate ceases to engage nominees in meaningful discussion of legal issues, the confirmation process takes on an air of vacuity and farce, and the Senate becomes incapable of either properly evaluating nominees or appropriately educating the public.” (Elena Kagan, “Review: Confirmation Messes, Old and New,” The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol.62, No. 2 (Spring, 1995), P.920) •    KAGAN: “Subsequent Hearings Have Presented To The Public A Vapid And Hollow Charade, In Which Repetition Of Platitudes Has Replaced Discussion Of Viewpoints And Personal Anecdotes Have Supplanted Legal Analysis.” (Elena Kagan, “Review: Confirmation Messes, Old and New,” The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol.62, No. 2 (Spring, 1995), P.941)

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