Senate Sends Message in Kagan Confirmation

Deborah O'Malley / August 05, 2010

Today the Senate confirmed Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court.  Yet the vote breakdown is telling.  Even with a Democrat stronghold in the Senate, Kagan received more “no” votes [37] than any Democrat Supreme Court nominee in 100 years, and with bipartisan opposition to top it off.  With liberals expected to loose seats in the Senate this November, the number of senators who are likely to seriously scrutinize Obama judicial nominees will only increase.

This should send a resounding message to President Obama, who may well have one or more vacancies on the High Court to fill during his time in office: nominees who are even more extreme than Kagan—such as Harold Koh or Goddwin Liu—will not glide through.

Now that Kagan is on the bench, time will only tell whether she will live up to her words from her confirmation hearing.  Though she was evasive when addressing most substantive issues, she made a number of promises about how she would approach the law as a justice. (more…)