Justice Kagan Charms 6th Circuit

Justice Elana Kagan spoke to lawyers and judges in Lexington yesterday at the Sixth Circuit's judicial conference. Even conservatives who disagree with her jurisprudence found her comments engaging. Kagan displayed humor, warmth and humility.

Kagan, who is the Circuit Justice for the Sixth Circuit (which encompasses Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee) used her speech as an opportunity to let us get to know her on a more personal level. She goes to the opera with Justice Ginsburg and -- get this -- hunts with Justice Scalia!

 The hunting with Scalia came about as a joke she made with a conservative Senator during her confirmation. The senator was trying to discern her position on the second amendment but knew he could not ask directly. So he asked how she felt about guns and whether she had ever hunted. She had never hunted or held a gun, she told the senator, but offered to go hunting with him if confirmed. The senator looked horrified, so Kagan clarified that she was joking.

 After she was confirmed, she told Scalia the story and asked if he would take her hunting. Scalia thought that was hilarious and said yes. First he took Kagan to shoot clay pigeons to learn about gun safety. Then he took her to hunt quail and pheasant. Kagan and Scalia have hunted together four times, and Scalia has pronounced her ready for "big game." Their next hunting trip will be to Montana for elk, she said.

 Regarding the operation of the Court, Kagan expressed surprise that the justices do not email each other. Instead, they communicate by hand-delivered memos on heavy-stock paper. At first Kagan thought the practice was absurd, but she has come to value it as a means to promote deliberative decision-making.

 She described relations among the justices as quite cordial. They have lunch together frequently and have a rule that cases will not be discussed at lunch. They talk sports, according to Kagan. She roots for the mets and Justice Sotomayor is a Yankees fan.

McConnell Will Vote No on Kagan

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will vote no on the confirmation of Elena Kagan to Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Here's McConnell's statement:"

In her testimony this week, Ms. Kagan acknowledged that it is ‘difficult to take off the advocate’s hat and put on the judge’s hat.’ That difficulty is particularly acute for someone like Ms. Kagan, who has spent so much of her adult life practicing the art of political advocacy rather than practicing law.

Unfortunately, Ms. Kagan failed to explain how she could overcome that difficulty, falling well short, in fact, of meeting her own standard for providing the Senate helpful testimony. She was far from forthcoming in discussing her own views on basic principles of American constitutional law. For example, she refused to repudiate her alarming position in the Supreme Court that the federal government can ban core political speech if it dislikes the speaker, including speech with a long and venerable history in our country, like political pamphlets.

I do not have confidence that if she were confirmed to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court she would suddenly constrain the ardent political advocacy that has marked much of her adult life. The American people expect a justice who will impartially apply the law, not one who will be a rubberstamp for the Obama administration or any other administration. For these reasons, I will oppose Ms. Kagan’s confirmation.