ELENA KAGAN'S 'DADDY'

jbjd ^ | 06.30.10 | jbjd

[jbjd]

...Pundits weighing in on the scope of interrogation Elena Kagan, Barack Obama’s Supreme Court Justice nominee will endure by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee predict she will be asked questions intended to inform as to how a J. Kagan would tend to rule in cases involving issues like guns (how seriously does she take the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms); and judicial restraint (can she separate her progressive politics from her rulings from the bench). Questions will also likely arise concerning her decision as Dean of the Harvard Law School to restrict military recruiting on campus (ban altogether or limit in scope). But in all of my reading on the subject, one issue that has never come up is this. Is Ms. Kagan’s tendency to become star struck into inertia in the presence of certain pre-eminent practitioners of law who, if she is confirmed, will no doubt appear before her; a fatal flaw that renders her lacking the judicial temperament expected of a member of the high court?

In other words, would a Justice Kagan set aside the fact that Professor Larry Tribe’s her ‘daddy‘?...

Chances are slim to none the Committee will ask Ms. Kagan whether her record of principled independence portends she will be equally impartial when it comes to hearing cases argued before the bench by Professor Tribe. They should, as this would be a likely scenario, given that he is among the top 30 lawyers who have argued the most cases before the SCOTUS since the start of the 20th century. Yet, when it comes to Mr. Tribe, Ms. Kagan acts less like a seasoned legal professional and more like a deer caught in the headlights.

Larry Tribe is an admitted plagiarist and Dean Kagan knew this but chose to do nothing about it....