Kagan hearings are a sham

NY Post ^ | June 30, 2010 | Jonah Goldberg

[Scanian]

Elena Kagan thinks that the "Borking" of Robert Bork during his 1987 Supreme Court confirmation hearings would deserve a commemorative plate if the Franklin Mint launched a "great moments in legal history" dishware line.

This isn't the time to rehearse the reasons why Kagan is wrong on that score. Still, one adverse result of the Bork hearings is worth dwelling on. Bork was the last Supreme Court nominee to give serious answers to serious questions. But because the left successfully anathematized him, no nominee since has dared show Borkian forthrightness.

Consider Monday's high-court ruling: The Second Amendment right to own a gun extends to state and local government.

Rookie Justice Sonia Sotomayor concurred with Justice Stephen Breyer's dissent, which held that there is no fundamental right to bear arms in the US Constitution.

[ANGGAPO]

Wonder if those two hacks think the Second Amendment is a book mark?

[Albion Wilde]

"Although the Bork inquisition was a largely partisan affair, the consequences have yielded a bipartisan sham. Republican and Democratic nominees alike are trained to say as little as possible and to stay a razor's width on the side of truthfulness. The point is not to give the best, most thoughtful or most honest answer, but to give the answer that makes it the most difficult for senators to vote against you. It's as if we expect nominees to demonstrate everything we hate and distrust about lawyers one last time before they don their priestly robes."

Goldberg is really hitting his stride as a commentator.

[shadeaud]

She’s a shoe in for sure. My concern is when Ruthie retires

[LibLieSlayer]

Fred Barnes (last night's all stars on Fox) confirmed that orin hatch coached kegan NOT TO SPEAK THE TRUTH ABOUT HER TRUE POSITIONS AND OPINIONS. orin needs to be removed from office as he is a traitor and a communist.

LLS

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Kagans view’s are dangerous for America and for some reasons that I can’t quite put my finger on, she creeps me out.

[wastoute]

IMHO Sotomayor should be impeached from the SCOTUS for this. She clearly was lying to COngress about the 2ndA. There is a way to remove a judge from the SCOTUS and lying under oath ought to do it.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

The hearings are a joke. Everyone knows that there will be no borking and she will not be accused by a someone who makes up stories about past conversations concerning coke bottles.

[sport]

I know that. AS usual, the Republicans are aiding and abetting the Democrats.

[OKSooner]

" Fred Barnes (last night's all stars on Fox) confirmed that orin hatch coached kegan NOT TO SPEAK THE TRUTH ABOUT HER TRUE POSITIONS AND OPINIONS. "

Worth saying again. Is there a Utah ping list?

[Hoodat]

I heard someone on the radio this morning saying that we should file perjury charges against Sotomayor for giving false testimony during her hearings (i.e. she claimed support for individual gun rights, yet stated the opposite in the recent gun case). It would really shake things up to do so in the midst of the Kagan charade.

[Rummyfan]

Kagan is unqualified. Is there one Republican Senator who will filibuster? As for the (un)Wise Latina - feh!

[Senator_Blutarski]

Remember the townhall meetings held by congressmen to discuss the healthcare bill? The meetings would start out civil. The the congressman would lie and the crowd would go ballistic.

The American people are tired of lies. Americans are angry that their politicians think they can lie and no one will notice or care. More than anything else, that is what the Tea Party movement is about.

[Utah Binger]

Is there a Utah ping list?

Romneybot mentality rules in Utah. Mr. RINO ass kisser Hatch fails once again to lead. Cowering in the corner is a big trait among these obedient servants of go along to get along weaklings.

Hatch telling Kagan "not to speak about her true positions and opinions" is a direct "Milk before Meat" Mormon attitude.

[kosciusko51]

"It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham."

Woody Allen, "Bananas". I think it is appropriate considering the article title and the fact we are becoming a banana republic...

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

IMHO Sotomayor should be impeached from the SCOTUS for this. She clearly was lying to COngress about the 2ndA. There is a way to remove a judge from the SCOTUS and lying under oath ought to do it.

Of course - but equally certainly, the Senate ain't gonna do it.

There's only one way out of this mess, and that's a constitutional convention to reform SCOTUS:

• 2 SCOTUS justices must be elected as running mates of the POTUS - which would take the Senate out of the picture (the fundamental problem being that senators no longer represent the state governments, but the people of the states - and that, imperfectly).

• the number of justices on SCOTUS must be constitutionally fixed at 11, so that any one POTUS could only name 4/11 (three fewer than a majority) of the whole of SCOTUS even if elected to 2 terms.

• SCOTUS justices must be "voted off the island" by the governors of the states as needed to keep the number of justices at 11.

It's obvious that the Senate would not propose such an amendment to the states, since it would cut the Senate's power.

Justices who served at the pleasure of the governors of the states might have a different attitude to states' rights than at present . . .