Why the Kagan hearings will be a charade

Los Angeles Times ^ | June 29, 2010 | Jonah Goldberg

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I have no desire to rehearse all the ways in which Bork was mistreated by Ted Kennedy and the usual liberal interest groups. Bork was the last Supreme Court nominee to give serious answers to serious questions.

Consider Monday's thunderclap from the judicial Mt. Olympus: The 2nd Amendment right to own a gun extends to state and local government.

The newsworthy opinion came from rookie Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She concurred with Justice Stephen G. Breyer's dissent, which held that there is no fundamental right to bear arms in the U.S. Constitution.

But when Sotomayor was before the Senate Judiciary Committee one year ago for her own confirmation hearings, she gave a very different impression of how she saw the issue. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy asked her, "Is it safe to say that you accept the Supreme Court's decision as establishing that the 2nd Amendment right is an individual right? Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir," she replied.

In fairness to everyone concerned, nobody is shocked to discover that Sotomayor is in fact precisely the dyed-in-the-wool liberal justice everyone expected her to be. But the fact that everyone is in on the lie is just further evidence of the sham Supreme Court hearings have become.

[BamaAndy]

We knew Sotomayer was lying and would be a rubber stamp for Ginsberg and Stevens.

[Man50D]

The OP(formerly the GOP) wing of the socialist Republicrat party will roll over go along with the RATs.

[radioone]

Lying, Shmying....it’s all for the “good of the cause”....move on, nothing to see here.

[old curmudgeon]

A Suprem Court Justice who lies.

Just what the job requires.

[Venturer]

Nothing like having a known perjurer on the Supreme Court.

And it isnt like everyone doesn’t know it.

It is a farce.

[9YearLurker]

Good column by Jonah.

[wmileo]

I pray daily for the good health of Justice Kennedy. He is the oldest of the five U.S. Supreme Court Justices who have up to now consistently upheld the individuals right to keep and bear arms.

I also pray for a conservative congress and president by the time any of the five(Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts) decide to retire.

[bitterohiogunclinger]

“A Supreme Court Justice who lies.”

A Supreme Court nominee lying in front of a group of “elite” liars. This is news?

[David]

The Constitution requires that a Supreme Court Justice be appointed by a "President" of the United States. Zero is not eligible to hold that office and therefore was not able to appoint either Sotomayer or Kagan.

Any person who is the subject matter of an appeal to the Court would have the right to object to participation of either one on the panel deciding their case on the grounds of Zero's ineligibility to act as President.

They would have standing and a justiciable issue.

[subterfuge]

The robed ones can deliberate and bullsh!t all they want. The can rule however they please. Then let them enforce their law of tyranny. It-will-be-ON!

[relictele]

Either the senators are fools or they are actively participating in the charade.

Judges/nominees promise to ‘treat all cases impartially.’ No surprise there.

What the senators SHOULD ask is the nominee’s opinion on cases ALREADY HEARD. No weaseling out of those - they’ve already been decided! Eliminate the coward’s way out and you force the nominee to express a viewpoint! If they claim ignorance then they are unfit to serve!

[screaminsunshine]

Right on. Hatch and the rest of the weasles are just shilling . We gotta get rid of the RINOS and the Crats to have a chance. UTAH! Get rid of your old RINO!!!

[musicman]

"Why the Kagan hearings will be a charade"

[Anima Mundi]

It isn’t “fair” (favorite Liberal word) that some people can obviously lie under oath and others go to jail for it. I don’t see why a list of questions can’t be drawn up which court nominees MUST answer clearly before being allowed on the bench. Questions which they can’t call either too general or too specific. It sometimes seems like the higher the job, the fewer the qualifications and proofs required. As long as you can pose and fool people, you get the job.

[SERKIT]

Isn't there a Muslim tenet that says, in essence, it is OK to lie to the enemy? Not to say she is Muslim, but I see some trends, and Shari'a Law will probably be a topic for the Supremes sooner than later. What role will she play in promulgating (or supporting) Shari'a concepts as they percolate up to the SCOTUS?

[originalbuckeye]

‘By any means necessary’ in the Liberal oath. We should swear them in before they answer questions and then, when they go against their sworn testimony, bring them up on perjury. But the Left knows exactly what's going on and Sotomayor is exactly who they knew she would be. Kagan will be even worse. I suspect she's smarter than Sotomayor.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Here’s how Supreme Court hearings work.
- if candidate is for abortion, talk a little, make out you care, and approve the candidate
- if candidate is against abortion, make noises like you’re talking and listening while you wait for the lying fabrications to come out of the woodwork - listen in hypocritical shock and then deny the candidate.

[combat_boots]

[wiggen]

I guess we need to change Obamas description of her. Shes a wise lying two faced duplicitous latina.