Justice Kagan?

President Barack Obama has nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. No doubt her opposition to military recruiters at Harvard Law School as Dean will draw probing questions from Republicans. She was completely wrong about using "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as a pretext for keeping the military off the Harvard Law School campus.

Nonetheless, we could have done worse. She was a pretty fair dean -- much less ideological than many on the faculty. And she did appoint some outstanding conservatives to the faculty, and that is no small accomplishment at Harvard. Her communication to alums also represented an improvement. Given her recent confirmation as Solicitor General, I think she will be confirmed to the High Court where she will be a solid vote for the left but unable to pull over any votes from the right.

Here's Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's statement on her nomination:

“I congratulate Elena Kagan on her nomination. As we did with Justice Sotomayor last year, Senate Republicans will treat Ms. Kagan fairly. She has been nominated for a lifetime appointment on the nation’s highest court, and we will carefully review her brief litigation experience, as well as her judgment and her career in academia, both as a professor and as an administrator. Fulfilling our duty to advise and consent on a nomination to this office requires a thorough process, not a rush to judgment.

“The American people expect judges to apply the Constitution and laws of the United States fairly and impartially—as they are written, not how they could have been written but were not. Even though the President who nominates them has personal policy preferences, judges must not be a rubberstamp for any administration. Judges must not walk into court with a preconceived idea of who should win. Their job is to apply the law ‘without respect to persons,’ as the judicial oath states; it is not to pick winners or losers.

“Senate Republicans will have a vigorous debate on the importance of this principle. And we will diligently review the record of Ms. Kagan to ensure that she shares this principle and that she possesses the requisite experience to serve on the Supreme Court.”