Posted on 06/23/2018 2:51:10 PM PDT by Twotone
What is Justice Elena Kagan doing? So far this term, the liberal justice has crossed ideological lines at least three times to join the Supreme Court’s conservatives. Most recently, on Thursday, Kagan authored the majority opinion in Lucia v. SEC, a huge case that threatens to erode the political independence of multiple federal agencies. Tearing down the “administrative state” is supposed to be Justice Neil Gorsuch’s pet project. In Lucia, though, it was Kagan who took the lead in undermining the civil service, authoring an opinion that prompted a sharp dissent by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who accused her colleague of making legal and factual errors.
Why is Kagan playing nice with the conservatives this term? What, put bluntly, is in it for her? Given her overall voting pattern, which remains progressive, it seems unlikely she’s ideologically drifting. It’s possible, though, that these defections are tactical maneuvers—efforts to build a moderate coalition to keep the court from veering rapidly to the right. Kagan isn’t losing the battle to win the war. She’s wrestling the court’s far-right justices to a draw in order to forestall disaster. And so far, she’s been surprisingly successful—to the occasional annoyance of her usual allies.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
That was my first thought as well. She liked and respected Scalia and was genuinely saddened by his death. I read several statements from her at the time and was surprised.
Sometimes we hear the wiser voices of those who have gone before us.
I think the author may be right though, she’s fighting the slight shift toward the originalist views.
Seriously? If true why do you think this is?
Scalia used to take Kagan shooting.
But Scalia was also friends with RBG.
Administrative Law Judges are a usurpation of the Judiciary, not the executive branch. They also violate the central American concept of separation of powers.
I can’t assign a probability to it, but conservatives have become more liberal while on the Court, so surely a liberal can become more moderate. I really doubt she’ll go our way on any landmark cases though.
I don't know if he and Kagan were friends.
Perhaps breaking ground by “growing in office” by shifting to more conservative and actual constitutional views.
It is hard to judge people solely on news reports, either from the left or the right. She may actually be dedicated to the constitution. One never knows.
Can you expand on lesbians being conservative?
5’3”
This is Scalia’s textualism expanding in the court. Kagan has expressed approval for this before. She is joining in on the narrow decisions, and is ruling on the law.
We’re seeing more and more narrow rulings. This is good for all of us.
Much better than the O’Connor/Kennedy “create things out of whole cloth” method of law. Or Breyer’s “look at the clouds” reasoning.
Most of the gay people i know are conservatives. Just saying. They’re not activists and just want to be left alone and unbothered like all the rest of us do.
A typical Slate Woman Tango Foxtrot article...
Maybe she suspects her good friend was murdered...
LOL!! Kagan is a liberal Jewess...….BUT maybe she is seeing the LIGHT!
How she been ill or is it Sotomyer?
One is a brittle diabetic and has spent some time at hospital !
Your father was a very smart man.
I was going to point that out too. Kagan and Scalia became good friends.
She may lean left but perhaps she’s not an ideologue.
Is Kagan intelligent enough to do double agentry?
Perhaps, LOL. I don’t care if she’s a lesbian or a ‘liberal jewess’ as long as she follows the law and the constitution.
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