Obama to name Kagan for high court

[Vette73]

There is nothing trollish about my comment.

She has ZERO experience being a judge.
She he being nominated to be a judge on the highest court in the United States.
If you think she is qualified, where can I get whatever you are smoking?

Maybe you should read the history of the US and the SC. It was never intened to be a steping job from lower court to appeal and so forth.
I am sure you think William Rehnquist was awful as well. Seeing he was also not a judge before getting to the SC.

 

[CallMeJoe]

Please elaborate on her judicial experience.

Oh wait, he doesn't have any.

Maybe Microsoft should nominate a residentially challenged man to be their CEO.

Apparently by your standards, John Marshall was not qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.

 

[Kadarin]

Roland Martin is all butthurt over her nomination: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/05/10/Martin.kagan.Supreme.court/index.html?hpt=T1

Is this good or bad?

 

[nonlnear]

Clearly harvard law school doesn't mean much anymore, Obama got a degree there. Hopefully the senate puts a halt to putting someone in the supreme court who's never actually served on a court before.

"Hi, you're here for the brain surgery prep? We understand you have a very complicated and tricky situation. Your surgeon today has never performed a surgery before, but he went to a good school. Good luck!". How the heck do you put someone on the court who has never been a judge before at any level? Not even judge judy level.

You need to read up on some SCOTUS history before posting crap like this - unless you are just posting for comic effect. There is a long history of SCOTUS appointments going to nominees who have never served on the bench. The recent trend of selecting only judges with (often significant) bench experience is somewhat of a historical anomaly if anything.

 

[Kappo]

Look I know it's OT but why do lesbians ALWAYS look like that?

Some are lesbians because it's the cool thing, some are lesbians because they were born that way, and some are lesbians because they make you scream OMG KILL IT WITH A STICK!

Her lesbianism appears to be necessity.

 

[Red Dawn]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned she was behind the failed Harvard push to remove military recruiters from their campus.

Just an aside, why would someone work so hard and spend so much money to get a Harvard education to just join the Military? Obviously if they were good enough for Harvard they'd be good enough for Annapolis or West Point at no cost to them besides their mandatory 4 year commitment to the Service branch of the afore mentioned schools.

 

[CycloWizard]

I promise you the average life expectancy of Supreme Court justices wasn't 35 years in 1787

Fair enough. I did the math based on data found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Justices_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

I only used Washington's successful appointees (i.e. not Rutledge). Their average age at death was 66.8 years. Their average age at appointment was 52.5. Thus, the average number of years served was 8.5 (values were 9, 6, 20, 5, 1, 9, 1, 13, 15, and 4).

Clearly, the average age of USSC justices was higher than the national average at the time, but still much lower than that of the national average today, and even further below the average for USSC justices today. The average appointment age was about the same then as it is now. Thus, the average term has gone from 8.5 years to 30+ years.

 

[dainthomas]

Just an aside, why would someone work so hard and spend so much money to get a Harvard education to just join the Military? Obviously if they were good enough for Harvard they'd be good enough for Annapolis or West Point at no cost to them besides their mandatory 4 year commitment to the Service branch of the afore mentioned schools.

It's a five year commitment I believe for the service academies. Either way, I don't think everyone at Harvard could get into an academy. But that's what OCS or ROTC are for.

I can't see why anyone at Harvard would want to enlist when they could be an officer.

 

[Danube]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned she was behind the failed Harvard push to remove military recruiters from their campus.

That - and that her brother was a radical - and she wrote sympathetically about socialism and radicals in her thesis:

"In her acknowledgments, Kagan writes:


"Sean Wilentz painstakingly read each page of this thesis - occasionally two or three times. His comments and suggestions were invaluable; his encouragement was both needed and appreciated. Finally, I would like to thank my brother Marc, whose involvement in radical causes led me to explore the history of American radicalism in the hope of clarifying my own political ideas."

What were Kagan's own ideas?


"In our own times, a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States. Americans are more likely to speak of a golden past than of a golden future, of capitalism's glories than of socialism's greatness. Conformity overrides dissent; the desire to conserve has overwhelmed the urge to alter. Such a state of affairs cries out for explanation. Why, in a society by no means perfect, has a radical party never attained the status of a major political force? Why, in particular, did the socialist movement never become an alternative to the nation's established parties?"(pp. 127)

"Through its own internal feuding, then, the SP exhausted itself forever and further reduced labor radicalism in New York to the position of marginality and insignificance from which it has never recovered. The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America. Radicals have often succumbed to the devastating bane of sectarianism; it is easier, after all, to fight one's fellows than it is to battle an entrenched and powerful foe. Yet if the history of Local New York shows anything, it is that American radicals cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope." (pp. 129-130)

Elena Kagan, Radical?

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/05/elena_kagan_radical.asp

 

[CycloWizard]

Just an aside, why would someone work so hard and spend so much money to get a Harvard education to just join the Military? Obviously if they were good enough for Harvard they'd be good enough for Annapolis or West Point at no cost to them besides their mandatory 4 year commitment to the Service branch of the afore mentioned schools.

I have a close friend and colleague here who tried to have military recruiters removed from WashU's med school by security. His argument was similar to yours - if the person is smart enough to graduate from a top 5 med school, shouldn't they be smart enough to... The irony is that he didn't think they should be allowed to use their fantastic brains to decide for themselves.

 

[Kappo]

I have a close friend and colleague here who tried to have military recruiters removed from WashU's med school by security. His argument was similar to yours - if the person is smart enough to graduate from a top 5 med school, shouldn't they be smart enough to... The irony is that he didn't think they should be allowed to use their fantastic brains to decide for themselves.

Even if they get 0 recruitments, it's possible it puts the thought as an option into someone's head. We can't have them thinking for themselves or reminding them that the military is an option and does exist, can we?

 

[theeedude]

Even if they get 0 recruitments, it's possible it puts the thought as an option into someone's head. We can't have them thinking for themselves or reminding them that the military is an option and does exist, can we?

Surely no one at Harvard can find an army recruiter if they aren't on Law School campus. Harvard is a private university, if they don't want an organization that discriminates based on sexual orientation on their campus, they don't have to have them.

 

[Turin39789]

Fair enough. I did the math based on data found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Justices_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

I only used Washington's successful appointees (i.e. not Rutledge). Their average age at death was 66.8 years. Their average age at appointment was 52.5. Thus, the average number of years served was 8.5 (values were 9, 6, 20, 5, 1, 9, 1, 13, 15, and 4).

Clearly, the average age of USSC justices was higher than the national average at the time, but still much lower than that of the national average today, and even further below the average for USSC justices today. The average appointment age was about the same then as it is now. Thus, the average term has gone from 8.5 years to 30+ years.

Are you advocating mandatory death sentences after 10 years on the bench?

 

[CycloWizard]

Are you advocating mandatory death sentences after 10 years on the bench?

Yes, that's the obvious conclusion to be drawn from my statements.

 

[Hacp]

Surely no one at Harvard can find an army recruiter if they aren't on Law School campus. Harvard is a private university, if they don't want an organization that discriminates based on sexual orientation on their campus, they don't have to have them.

Problem is they take government loans and grants. If they give that up, then no one would care what Harvard does.

 

[Kappo]

Surely no one at Harvard can find an army recruiter if they aren't on Law School campus. Harvard is a private university, if they don't want an organization that discriminates based on sexual orientation on their campus, they don't have to have them.

Surely no one at Harvard can find www.monster.com and find a company that will only hire minorities to make sure they are not "diversity challenged" and surely they can do without ANY government funding whatsoever.

 

[Danube]

you mean to tell me, pearl necklace really means pearl necklace to her?

Hummm....

 

[boomerang]

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Do we have a right to know who her significant other is? Is that relevant? Should she be treated differently in that regard than a straight nominee would be?

 

[Throckmorton]

You're thinking of Patton Oswalt

 

[Jhhnn]

Righties would whine no matter who Obama picks- if it's his choice, then it must be wrong, because he's an ebil soshulist sekrit mooslim terrarist coddlin' commie fascist ni@@er who wasn't born in this country and wants to destroy Uhmerricah...

For them, it's obvious...

Edit- forgot Fa@@ot luver...

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Righties would whine no matter who Obama picks- if it's his choice, then it must be wrong, because he's an ebil soshulist sekrit mooslim terrarist coddlin' commie fascist ni@@er who wasn't born in this country and wants to destroy Uhmerricah...

For them, it's obvious...

Edit- forgot Fa@@ot luver...

Forget your meds today?

 

[dmcowen674]

I don't care where she stands on the "issues" and neither should anyone else.

What SHOULD matter here is if she is willing to stand up for the Constitution and use it as her guide for making decisions(not foreign law or some other BS).

My guess is that BHO picked her precisely because he feels she feels like he does about the Constitution. :thumbsdown:

Based on your first line I'm sure there is absolutely no one that Obama could pick that you or any Republicans would be happy with.

 

[Linflas]

Just an aside, why would someone work so hard and spend so much money to get a Harvard education to just join the Military? Obviously if they were good enough for Harvard they'd be good enough for Annapolis or West Point at no cost to them besides their mandatory 4 year commitment to the Service branch of the afore mentioned schools.

Maybe that question should be asked of one of the 17 Medal of Honor recipients that graduated from Harvard. Unfortunately they are no longer with us to answer that question for you.

Medal of Honor Recipients from Harvard University

 

[Jhhnn]

Forget your meds today?

Nah- Just tryin' to help your fellow travelers remember the lyrics, the mantra, the jingos and catch phrases...

 

[cubeless]

Just an aside, why would someone work so hard and spend so much money to get a Harvard education to just join the Military? Obviously if they were good enough for Harvard they'd be good enough for Annapolis or West Point at no cost to them besides their mandatory 4 year commitment to the Service branch of the afore mentioned schools.

ummm, because some people still think it's noble to serve their country? or maybe that the af's benefit from a cross section of people, like any other business? and possibly that some one might want to wear a spiffy uniform and do interesting spook work or such?