The email serves to point out a further, larger problem that is becoming pervasive. Ms. Kagan knew of her own involvement yet, just as Zero has done, has adopted this “catch me if you can” position. We are in far deeper than events articulate when behavior, like this, is tolerated from a sitting Supreme Court Justice. She should be prosecuted for not having removed herself from any potential hearings involving the Affordable Health Care Act.
In the game of Contract Bridge, there is a rule that explicitly states that deliberate violations of most rules are forbidden, even if one would be willing to pay the penalty (the penalties are assigned for presumably-accidental violations). The penalty for accidentally dropping a card so that one's partner can see it, for example, is usually fairly minor unless it would have given one's partner particularly useful information. On the other hand, if the tournament director could demonstrate that a person deliberately dropped a card so his opponent could see it, that would be grounds for ejection from the tournament and possibly from future tournaments as well.
In short, cheating is cheating and is just plain illegitimate. Someone who figures out how to cheat and get away with it isn't clever--he's a cheater. The rules are meant to be followed in good faith, not in as narrow a fashion as one can get away with.
What's needed is a general recognition that a legitimate government needs to obey certain rules, and that failure to abide by those rules renders the government illegitimate.