Kagan Speech Rationing

Washington Times ^ | May 17, 2010 | Editorial staff

[raptor22]

Would Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan outlaw "Common Sense"? Ms. Kagan's work on First Amendment free-speech issues suggests she might restrict Thomas Paine, circa 1776, from distributing his famous pamphlet. Solicitor General Kagan likewise might outlaw "The Federalist Papers" if Founding Fathers James Madison and Alexander Hamilton refused to say who paid to publish their essays. These views on the First Amendment are troubling enough to raise serious doubts as to whether the Senate should confirm her for the high court.

It was President Obama who deliberately put the focus on Ms. Kagan's First Amendment theories by highlighting her efforts to restrict the ability of corporate entities to engage in political speech. As former Gov. Frank White of Arkansas once put it, the president thus "opened a whole box of Pandoras." Ms. Kagan's First Amendment work repeatedly promotes the idea that speech rights are granted by government rather than inherent in the God-given nature of man.

[Touch Not the Cat]

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