Elena Kagan emails show she was 'excited' about Obamacare passage

American Thinker ^ | 11/15/2011 | Rick Moran

[SeekAndFind]

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The case for Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan recusing herself from voting on the upcoming decision regarding Obamacare would seem to be an open and shut one. Emails show that she harbored definite opinions about the law while serving as Obama's solicitor general.

The Examiner:

At her confirmation hearing in 2010, now-Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan that she "was not" asked at any time to give her opinion on the merits of the Obamacare legislaton. Newly released emails suggest that whether or not she was asked, Kagan was not shy about her enthusiasm for the bill that eventually became law.

Kagan, while serving as President Obama's Solicitor General, exchanged emails with her then-colleagues in the Justice Department indicating her support for the Obamacare legislation when it was under consideration in Congress.

"I hear they have the votes, Larry!! Simply amazing," Kagan wrote, in an email obtained by Judicial Watch, on the day Obamacare passed through Congress. Larry Tribe, a Harvard Law professor and Supreme Court attorney who served as "senior counselor for access to justice" in the Department of Justice (DOJ), replied to Kagan that the bill's passage was "remarkable."

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[MrB]

Sounds more like she needs the Power of Christ to compel her... just sayin’.

[DManA]

The coin Kennedy flips is the king.

[DarthVader]

This Wikipedia article summarizes things very well. The law requires recusal and Elena KegFace will have to recuse herself as Justice Sotomayor did in a case which involved Green-House gases where she did work on. The precedent is there. Her colleagues will compel her if she doesn't.:

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

[SeekAndFind]

Her colleagues will SHOULD compel her if she doesn't.:

[SeekAndFind]

What about the left asking Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from a potential challenge to the new health care law because of his wife’s lobbying work for the Tea Party?

Anthony Weiner ( good riddance ) has been demanding this for the longest time and I’m sure there will be others as well.

See here for instance:

http://www.observer.com/2011/politics/weiner-asks-clarence-thomas-recuse-himself-possible-healthcare-hearing

[panaxanax]

I have a question that I should know the answer to, but don’t.

If she recuses herself or is forced to do so and it is a tie 4-4 who makes the final call?

[DarthVader]

His wife’s work is not HIS work like the Kegface’s was.

[DarthVader]

The left can go pound sand as they are going outside the law.

[stylin19a]

they better have more than this email for kagan to recuse herself.

[SeekAndFind]

Why isn’t this e-mail evidence enough?

[Tulsa Ramjet]

Elections have consequences.
...and its the republicans fault for not battling her nomination.

There seems to be a general view that it shouldn’t matter who goes on the SCOTUS, because it is a benny for the president who won the presidential election. Somehow, someway, we have gotten to the point that Repub’s feel disinclined to fight nominees. This lack of will is a disservice to those that elected them. Frankly, they should be thrown out next election.

SCOTUS definitively shapes the culture of our lives. They determine what is allowable and acceptable. Reversing a decision of unelectable, politcally appointed people, is nearly impossible. Any element of our society, whether political or societal, that can shape culture is the business of those we elect.

[RedMDer]

[I am Richard Brandon]

"Liberals never do the correct & honorable thing. It always just win baby, ends justify the means. "

And the GOP is the stupid party for letting them do it.

[skeeter]

Yes they are. I’m so frustrated with them I’ll sign over my entire retirement account to the first republican who’ll face these b*stards, fight them on their terms & not back down.

[SeaHawkFan]

The circuit court decision would be upheld.

[stylin19a]

No smoking gun. I'm going along with the opinion at the end of this article:

There's got to be a record of that meeting somewhere as well as a list of people who attended. But the White House is refusing to turn over Kagan-related documents. Without the smoking gun memo, it will be nearly impossible to put pressure on the justice to stand aside.

[truthguy]

If there ever was an argument that an average mind could obtain a law degree, this woman is a prime example.

Yes I agree but she's Oliver Wendell Holmes compared to Sonia Sotomayer. Now there's a person who would be mentally challenged as a Traffic Court Judge. And yet Sotomayer is sitting on the SCOTUS. Elections have consequences and I doubt than any of the Obama Troglodyte Voters knew what they might get on the Supreme Court. Nobody could ever make a better example of the decline of the United States Intellectually than the fact Sonia Sotomayer is on the Court or Obama in the White House.

[truthguy]

Elections have consequences. ...and its the republicans fault for not battling her nomination.

The first part of what you say is true. But the Republicans didn't have the votes to stop confirmation. Simple as that. It was a lost cause. Dems were in total contol of Senate.

[Tulsa Ramjet]

The five Republicans who voted yes were: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Judd Gregg (N.H.), Richard Lugar (Ind.) and Olympia Snowe (Maine). All five backed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination last year. The votes of some centrist lawmakers, including Sens. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)

You are right. They didn’t have the votes. But these senators should not be re-elected and a line in the sand drawn. A vote on a bill can be overturned. SCOTUS selections are decades lasting.