Free Republic

The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee said Thursday that the Obama administration is fueling speculation about Supreme CourtJustice Elena Kagan’s impartiality because it won’t turn over documents detailing her role in crafting the legal strategy to defend the health care law while she was serving in the administration. Rep. Lamar Smith, the committee chairman, told Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that emails show Justice Kagan took an interest in the case in January 2010, when she was solicitor general, and he demanded to know what role she played between then and March 2010, when Mr. Obama tapped...

Snopes, Soros and the Supreme Courts Kagan We-l-l-l-l now, I guess the time has come to check out Snopes! Ya' don't suppose it might not be a good time to take a second look at some of the stuff that got kicked in the ditch by Snopes, do ya'? We've known that it was owned by a lefty couple but hadn't known it to be financed by Soros! Snopes is heavily financed by George Soros; a big time supporter of Obama! In our Search for the truth department, we find what I have suspected on many occasions. I went to...

Rep. Steve Kagen's (D-Wis.) campaign manager e-mailed supporters to warn them that turnout numbers were flagging and that they needed more voters to make their way to the polls. "We have just been going over the morning voting numbers — and turnout isn’t where we need it to be in our strong areas," campaign manager Julie Heun wrote in an e-mail. "This race is going to be a squeaker — and every vote will count."

Via the Hill: McConnell grew increasingly angry as Franken made fun of him before a crowded public gallery and Senate aides lining the chamber walls. Senate aides said they were shocked that Franken would flout the decorum of the chamber during such a solemn occasion. After McConnell finished his remarks, he walked up to the dais and rebuked him. “This is not ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Al,” McConnell said, making reference to Franken’s career as a writer and actor on NBC’s long-running comedy show, according to a witness who overheard the exchange. A spokeswoman for Franken did not immediately return requests...

The Socialist’s Journal: Activist JudgesJuly 6, 2010 at 07:00 am Trevor Brookins *With the questioning and possible confirmation of proposed Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagen there is the obligatory hand wringing by conservatives over what is assumed to be a liberal leaning mind. One of the favored arguments against liberal judges is that they are activist – meaning their decisions on cases take into consideration their vision for society as much as, or even more so than, the facts of the case in question. On its surface such behavior on the part of the judges would seem autocratic and undemocratic....

Last week we witnessed a disturbing though certainly not a surprising event in our nation's capital when President Obama’s nominee for the United States Supreme Court, Elena Kagen refused to answer directly the question posed to her by Senator Tom Coburn during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings about whether or not she believed in rights that are inherent to us. Though falling short of an emphatic denial, this evasive maneuver might better be described by saying she conspicuously declined to affirm such a belief. In any event it left me feeling that Republicans must demand a filibuster so they can...

Fourteen years ago, to protect President Clinton's position on partial-birth abortions, Elena Kagan doctored a statement by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Conservatives think this should disqualify her from the Supreme Court. They understate the scandal. It isn't Kagan we should worry about. It's the whole judiciary. Kagan, who was then an associate White House counsel, was doing her job: advancing the president's interests. The real culprit was ACOG, which adopted Kagan's spin without acknowledgment. But the larger problem is the credence subsequently given to ACOG's statement by courts, including the Supreme Court. Judges have put too much...

Foxnews Alert! I thought he was s sure thing...

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan counted the days like a nervous student anticipating a tough oral exam before she made her first appearance last year at the court she's now seeking to join. "Four weeks from Wednesday — not that I'm counting — will be my first argument as solicitor general and also my first argument at the Supreme Court," she told summer interns in Washington with a laugh. "I come into this job not having a whole lot of experience myself in oral arguments," the then-solicitor general told the students in a video of her appearance...

Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI) faced a “heated” discussion about health care at a town hall meeting yesterday, with people in the crowd who were heckling, interrupting, and filibustering him. One vocal attendee was a woman named Heather Blish, who identified herself as “just a mom from a few blocks away” and “not affiliated with any political party.” When interviewed by the local NBC affiliate, Blish insisted she was not a member of the Republican Party. “I left the party,” she said. Blish’s statements, however, are distortions.

This is great! Another Rep was booed at a listening session. Hundreds turned up, hundreds could not fit in the meeting. If anyone has additional videos, please post the link!Kagen booed at listening session

Sitting in Congress is a bill sponsored by 8th District Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Appleton) that would allow the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians to sell its fee lands without further approval from the federal government (see related story), but if you think you're entitled to any documents Kagen might have about the bill - including any correspondence between his office and the tribe - think again. The American people don't have the right to see any of it. That's because, as a sovereign nation, the tribe is not subject to federal or state open records statutes....

“Here’s what we know,” President George W. Bush began in response to a question about the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran. “We know that they’re still trying to learn how to enrich uranium. We know that enriching uranium is an important step in a country who wants to develop a weapon. We know they had a program. We know the program is halted.” If the intelligence is right this time, then this last piece of information is good news. But there’s more to the story, as National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley explained a day earlier. “The intelligence community...

Kagen: Nothing to apologize for in White House visit By Tim Ryan, Leader Reporter U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen said Friday he is sorry the controversy surrounding his comments about a White House visit last year has created what he called a distraction, but said he has done nothing for which he feels the need to apologize. “I haven’t acted in a way that requires an apology,” Kagen told a Leader reporter during a visit here Friday. The brouhaha that has blown up in recent weeks surrounds comments Kagen made Dec. 19 to a group of peace activists that were reported...

(AP) WASHINGTON -- Freshman Congressman Steve Kagen has apologized to constituents for mishandling reports of his behavior at a reception where he taunted White House adviser Karl Rove. "You have probably heard more about my appearance at last year's White House reception for new lawmakers than you have about the issues my colleagues and I are grappling with today on your behalf," the Democrat wrote in an op-ed piece that ran in several Wisconsin newspapers Sunday. "And that's a shame because you deserve better. "I apologize for handling this situation as I did. I allowed this distraction to get out...

Washington - Federal health officials have warned freshman Rep. Steve Kagen that his Wisconsin allergy practice is in apparent violation of federal law for manufacturing and selling allergy shots without a valid license. Advertisement Buy a link hereAccording to a letter sent to Kagen by the Food and Drug Administration, Kagen manufactured a variety of ragweed and grass allergen vaccines from commercially distributed pollen and sold the shots to patients at his clinic and in at least 24 other states. The FDA letter, which was dated Dec. 18 but wasn't posted online until Thursday, said that Kagen, an Appleton Democrat,...

You can take the man out of CNN - and stick him in Congress - but you can't take the CNN out of the man. As per this Robert Novak column, Steven Kagen, a Democrat elected in November to represent a Wisconsin district in Congress, recently bragged of having insulted First Lady Laura Bush, President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and Karl Rove at a White House function for new members. The details of Kagen's insults, set forth below, boggle the mind. What kind of person would do something like this? The kind of person that CNN would hire to be a...

Federal health officials have warned freshman Wisconsin Congressman Steve Kagen that his allergy practice is in apparent violation of federal law for manufacturing and selling allergy shots without a valid license. The Democratic congressman is a physician from Appleton and was sworn in earlier this month. The Food and Drug Administration says in a letter that Kagen manufactured a variety of ragweed and grass allergen vaccines from commercially distributed pollen and sold the shots to patients at his clinic and in at least 24 other states. It says Kagen did not have a valid license required for introducing a biological...

While meeting last month with a group of area peace activists, then Congressman-elect Steve Kagen told a story of his first visit to the White House that shows a feisty and humorous side to our new man in Congress. He told the group one of the first lessons he learned in Washington is to never pass up a rest room because you don’t know when you’ll see one again. He’d already had a long day of freshman orientation when he and his wife, Gail, were expected at the White House. Upon arrival, he asks a Marine where he can find...

Controversy over the comment is tricking down to statewide races. Both 8th Congressional District candidates weighed in before Kerry's apology. Steve Kagen said he didn't think Kerry needed to apologize. He responded to a reporter's question, "You'd have to ask Senator Kerry what he's thinking. You want to ask what Steve Kagen thinks, I can tell you what I think." Kagen, a Democrat, said he thinks Kerry's comment was more about education costs than anything else, and not a slander to the troops. Campaigning Wednesday in Gard's home territory of Lena, Coleman, and Pound, Kagen said he supports the troops...