Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan faces the senate today. The senate confirmation hearings of, almost certainly, the 4th woman ever to sit on the the High Court are expected to last 3 or 4 days. The 19 member Senate Judiciary Committee that will be judging Elena Kagan is comprised of 17 men and 2 women. Of course the senate is entirely white. A recent study finds that women and minority members face harsher questions than do white male nominees. Perhaps that wouldn't be the case if the questioners were not almost exclusively white men.
While conservatives paint Kagan as a doctrinaire leftist, reception to her nomination in liberal legal circles has been mixed. Some African-American organizations have been slow to endorse her. Civil libertarians are wary of her views on executive power, while church-state separation advocates and gay activists have expressed concerns that Kagan might view religiously motivated discrimination as immune from state regulation.
What’s far from clear is whether any Democratic senators will pick up on that skepticism or whether they’ll form a cocoon of sorts around the Democratic nominee. . .
Politics Feminist News Gender
The New York Times urges Dems to try to "illuminate the authentic mind of Elena Kagan." Fat chance:
While conservatives paint Kagan as a doctrinaire leftist, reception to her nomination in liberal legal circles has been mixed. Some African-American organizations have been slow to endorse her. Civil libertarians are wary of her views on executive power, while church-state separation advocates and gay activists have expressed concerns that Kagan might view religiously motivated discrimination as immune from state regulation.
What’s far from clear is whether any Democratic senators will pick up on that skepticism or whether they’ll form a cocoon of sorts around the Democratic nominee. . .
Politics Feminist News Gender
