Elena Kagan.

Linked to on Salon's home page today.

So many problematic statements, so little time. I’ll just rattle off a few glaring errors…

Let’s start with these paragraphs…

We are told that Kagan is a manifestation of Obama’s concern that the common people are not being heard by the Supreme Court. So he appoints a person who attended an exclusive high school, then Princeton, then Oxford, and then Harvard. Just the sort of person who is most likely to be in touch with the struggles and aspirations, the stances and aims of We the People…

Socioeconomic class is only one disconnect between rhetoric and reality when it comes to the Kagan selection. If she is lesbian, as rumor has it, then she is definitely not average. If she is not lesbian, she is very unusual as a 50 year old woman who has never been married. She has no children, which is also unusual for a woman her age…

Each of these traits by itself means little. There are tens of thousands of graduates from prestigious, if overrated, universities. Not every woman is able to have children. Added together, however, they do not depict someone who can relate to “average people” or vice versa. Quite the opposite. When you look at the aggregate effect of 1%


- I don’t pretend to be a populist. I think the people we elect to serve in positions of great power and influence should be smarter and worldlier than “typical Americans.” I look at my neighbors, guests on the Jerry Springer Show, people on the evening news—and I look at myself!—and… no, bad idea. Education isn’t everything (a first-rate degree doesn’t guarantee a fair and discerning mind and a just and good heart) but it’s A Big (and I would venture “essential”) Something when one endeavors to be A Big, Consequential And Decisive Somebody.

- I bristle at the insinuation that a 50-year-old woman would ONLY be childless because she was either unable to bear children or unable to land a mate. “Not every woman is able to have children” ignores, by careless oversimplification, a woman’s agency in deciding whether or not she DESIRES to bear children.

- The whispers about lesbianism bug me also, but not nearly as much as these lines…

Like the construction? Although I understand homosexuality to be deficient on numerous grounds, I wouldn’t oppose Kagan for that reason, if she does privately fall into that category. Five-term Senator David Walsh (D-MA) was one of the best members of the upper legislative chamber during the first half of the 20th century. Apparently, he was also homosexual. Some of my favorite writers are self-identified homosexuals who are undeniably talented and insightful (e.g., Gore Vidal, Andrea Dworkin, Amy Ray, Emily Saliers, Justin Raimondo).

“These people were homosexuals BUT they had some redeeming qualities. See? Look at me. Listen to me! I’m no homophobe!”

I’m no fan of Elena Kagan. I oppose her nomination on the grounds that her scant, deliberately inoffensive record offends me with its lack of judicial conviction and courage.