Get this blog via RSSJune 28, 2010
Live from Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings
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SPECIAL REPORT: THE KAGAN NOMINATION >>> Vote in our TxPotomac poll: Do you favor or oppose the nomination of Elena Kagan? >>> Photo Gallery: Elena Kagan's life and career in pictures >>>Exclusive interview: Cornyn says concerns about nominee remain >>> Some liberals worry that the nominee might be a closet moderate >>> Conservatives divided over Kagan's nomination >>> Videos of the nominee in action >>> The Bork confirmation battle has had a lasting impact on the Supreme Court confirmation process >>> List of Supreme Court nominees with no judicial experience Today's report: A viewer's guide to the confirmation hearings Six senators to watch at the hearings |
Good morning from Capitol Hill, where, at 11:30 a.m. Central Time, we'll begin Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Solicitor General Elena Kagan.
Nominated in May, Kagan has spent the last seven weeks meeting with senators and preparing for this week's hearings before so-called "murder boards," sessions in which teams of lawyers pepper the nominee with queries about every conceivable aspect of the law.
The White House is saying that Kagan, a former dean of Harvard Law School, is prepared for her encounter with the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Sen. John Cornyn, R-San Antonio, is a member, but Republicans will try to stump her at every turn.
When Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., gavels the committee to order in just a little while, we'll begin an afternoon of opening statements from each of the committee's 19 members. Later in the day, we'll hear from the nominee herself, and then we may begin a round of questions from members, though that is unlikely.
Meanwhile, I'll be here on the blog and on Twitter (@alanblinder) throughout the afternoon. Feel free to chime in by commenting below or using the hashtag #houkagan on Twitter.
Live commentary will begin after the jump.
Continue reading "Live from Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings"
Posted by Alan Blinder at 01:09 PM in Special Report: Elena Kagan
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News links: Midday update
Welcome to Texas on the Potomac's "midday update." Every weekday, we will bring you three sets of news links, starting with a morning summary of top Texas headlines, national stories and Texas political blog posts. We'll update at midday update with some of the top political stories that are making waves. And we'll give you an "afternoon final" giving you something to talk about at the dinner table. As always, feel free to e-mail us with link suggestions.
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1. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, died this morning. He was 92. Byrd was the longest serving senator in history - his first term began in 1959. Politico>>>
2. Apple sold 1.7 million units of its new iPhone 4 in just three days, almost double the 1 million iPhone 3G phones Apple sold when that device hit the market. Bloomberg Businessweek>>>
Supreme Court Midday Spectacular!
3. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings begin today, and we're live blogging. Follow along live as the Senators grill Obama's pick for the highest court in the land. Texas on the Potomac
4. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to overturn Chicago's 28-year ban on handguns, saying the Second Amendment gave citizens a right to carry certain weapons that could not be overruled by state or local laws. CNN>>>
5. The Supreme Court also rejected a Department of Justice suit against the tobacco companies for $280 billion dollars. Bloomberg Businessweek>>>
6. 50 years after she wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning To Kill a Mockingbird, author and famous recluse Harper Lee gave a rare interview to the British newspaper The Daily Mail on the condition that the interviewer didn't bring up the book. Mail Online>>>
Posted by Spencer Gaffney at 12:00 PM in News links
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Texans applaud Supreme Court gun rights decision
No surprise here: Texas elected officials are elated at this morning's Supreme Court decision that makes gun ownership a national rights.
From Attorney General Greg Abbott in Austin, who authored a legal brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of 38 state attorneys general, to the Texas delegation in Washington, Lone Star leaders applauded the decision to prohibit cities such as Chicago from restricting Second Amendment rights.
Here's a sampling of Texas reaction:
 Official photo Attorney General Greg Abbott |
Attorney General Greg Abbott:
"The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what Texans have long known: all law abiding Americans have a fundamental right to keep and bear arms - and cities cannot unconstitutionally limit that right.
"Today's ruling rejected Chicago's argument that cities and towns are above the Constitution and can pass laws that disregard the Second Amendment. The decision marks a victory not only for law-abiding gun owners, but also for the constitutional rights and liberties that our Founders guaranteed to all Americans."
 Photo by Meredith McDermott/ Hearst Newspapers Sen. John Cornyn |
Sen. John Cornyn:
"I applaud today's Supreme Court decision that ensures every individual in our society has the right to keep and bear a firearm to defend their family and their home. It stands as a timely reminder for what is at stake when considering a nominee to our nation's highest court.
"This decision will no doubt lead to further litigation, and every American deserves to know where Elena Kagan stands on Second Amendment rights. My constituents have expressed serious concerns regarding Ms. Kagan's position on gun rights. They deserve to know if they can trust the same person who coordinated Bill Clinton's aggressive gun-control agenda to interpret and define the contours of the Second Amendment for decades to come."
Posted by Richard Dunham at 10:21 AM in Breaking news
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Kagan special report: Links to best coverage of nomination
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SPECIAL REPORT: THE KAGAN NOMINATION >>> Vote in our TxPotomac poll: Do you favor or oppose the nomination of Elena Kagan? >>> Photo Gallery: Elena Kagan's life and career in pictures >>>Exclusive interview: Cornyn says concerns about nominee remain >>> Some liberals worry that the nominee might be a closet moderate >>> Conservatives divided over Kagan's nomination >>> Videos of the nominee in action >>> The Bork confirmation battle has had a lasting impact on the Supreme Court confirmation process >>> List of Supreme Court nominees with no judicial experience Today's report: A viewer's guide to the confirmation hearings Six senators to watch at the hearings |
With Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearings beginning at 11:30 a.m. today, here's a quick rundown of interesting stories relating to the Kagan nomination.
1. In January, President Obama attacked the Supreme Court during the State of the Union Address. In March, while speaking at the University of Alabama, Chief Justice John Roberts returns fire. The two men may be at the center of Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing, rendering the nominee a mere intermediary. The New York Times>>>
2. Kagan earned her law degree from Harvard and served as the law dean. Harvard may be prestigious, but is there a stigma attached, too? The Boston Globe>>>
3. Speaking of Harvard, Kagan's position on military recruiters at the school has given conservatives ammunition. The Pentagon released nearly 900 pages of documents last weekend about the episode. Read all about it in The Harvard Crimson>>>
4. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has refused to rule out a filibuster of the Kagan nomination. The Huffington Post>>>
5. In an interview last week, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the confirmation process has been "overshadowed" by other events, but with the hearings having finally arrived, Republicans have still yet to develop a foolproof argument against Kagan, frustrating the GOP. The Washington Post>>>
Posted by Alan Blinder at 10:02 AM in Special Report: Elena Kagan
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TxPotomac poll: Supreme Court gun rights ruling
Posted by Richard Dunham at 09:13 AM in Texas on the Potomac Poll
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Kagan special report: Six senators to watch during confirmation hearings
During a speech in March, Chief Justice John Roberts said senators view the Supreme Court confirmation process as "a vehicle for them to make statements about what is important to them."
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SPECIAL REPORT: THE KAGAN NOMINATION >>> Vote in our TxPotomac poll: Do you favor or oppose the nomination of Elena Kagan? >>> Photo Gallery: Elena Kagan's life and career in pictures >>>Exclusive interview: Cornyn says concerns about nominee remain >>> Some liberals worry that the nominee might be a closet moderate >>> Conservatives divided over Kagan's nomination >>> Videos of the nominee in action >>> The Bork confirmation battle has had a lasting impact on the Supreme Court confirmation process >>> List of Supreme Court nominees with no judicial experience Today's report: A viewer's guide to the confirmation hearings Six senators to watch at the hearings Links to best preview stories on nomination battle |
He added that the process "is not very fruitful," and he expressed hope that senators would change their conduct for future hearings.
On Monday, the first day of confirmation hearings for Solicitor General Elena Kagan, they'll have their chance.
But not all senators are created equal, and some have a better chance of getting something noteworthy out of a nominee than others. Others, like Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., or Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., are more known for pushing the party line and designing questions specifically to advance or reduce a nominee's prospects for confirmation. Here are six senators to watch when Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., convenes the committee Monday.
 Photo by Meredith McDermott/Hearst Newspapers Sen. John Cornyn |
John Cornyn, R-Texas: After serving as a Texas Supreme Court justice and as that state's attorney general, Cornyn joined the Senate and has since become the leader of Republican efforts to retake the Senate this fall. During the hearings, expect the affable Cornyn to challenge Kagan on topics that might make for good campaign fodder as the nation moves toward November.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.: While conservatives, especially gun owners, generally lambaste Feinstein as one of the Senate's most liberal members, she has a slight conservative streak on some legal matters. She has been the lead Democrat on two big issues for conservatives: the Patriot Act and a proposed constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. She is, for all practical matters, a certain vote for Kagan, but some of her questions could be probing.
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.: When Samuel Alito came under attack during his confirmation hearings, Graham, in an effort to protect the nominee, famously asked, "Are you a bigot?" Graham has a reputation for occasionally irritating Republican leaders to side with Democrats, just as he has a reputation for getting straight to the point. He was one of nine Democrats to support Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the high court last year.
 AFP photo Sen. Orrin Hatch |
Orrin Hatch, R-Utah: A former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the gentlemanly, soft-spoken Hatch is known for tough, but fair, queries. Hatch supported Kagan's nomination to be solicitor general.
Ted Kaufman, D-Del.: The caretaker of Vice President Joe Biden's former seat, Kaufman has focused his work on the Judiciary Committee on laws related to business. During Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, Kaufman was the first senator to ask about her record on business-related cases.
Herb Kohl, D-Wisc.: The richest member of the Senate is also one of its lowest-profile members. The heir to a department store fortune and the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, Kohl has staked out a moderate record on the law. While far from a card-carrying member of the NRA, he has supported granting gun manufacturers immunity from lawsuits. During the Bush administration, he supported Roberts' nomination, but voted against Alito. Look for Kohl to ask some probing questions without making headlines for his obnoxiousness.
Posted by Alan Blinder at 08:29 AM in Special Report: Elena Kagan
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Kagan special report: A viewer's guide to the confirmation hearings
This is an extended, online version of the analysis that appeared today in the print edition of the Houston Chronicle.
Did you know that there's a Supreme Court confirmation hearing starting this afternoon?
You'd have good reason to answer no. In the six weeks following Solicitor General Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court by President Obama, there were just 11 stories on the network evening news on the former Harvard Law School dean.
And even on Capitol Hill, Kagan's hearing seems destined to be overshadowed by the confirmation hearing of Obama's pick to direct the Afghan war, Gen. David Petraeus, scheduled to start Tuesday.
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SPECIAL REPORT: THE KAGAN NOMINATION >>> Vote in our TxPotomac poll: Do you favor or oppose the nomination of Elena Kagan? >>> Photo Gallery: Elena Kagan's life and career in pictures >>>Exclusive interview: Cornyn says concerns about nominee remain >>> Some liberals worry that the nominee might be a closet moderate >>> Conservatives divided over Kagan's nomination >>> Videos of the nominee in action >>> The Bork confirmation battle has had a lasting impact on the Supreme Court confirmation process >>> List of Supreme Court nominees with no judicial experience Today's report: A viewer's guide to the confirmation hearings Six senators to watch at the hearings Links to best preview stories on nomination battle |
But whether anyone is paying attention or not, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is set to gavel the high-stakes Supreme Court confirmation hearing to order this afternoon.
Despite the lack of attention, Kagan's nomination could prove pivotal to the high court's future. The 50-year-old New York native has been chosen to replace the court's most consistent liberal, Justice John Paul Stevens, so even a modest shift to the center by Kagan could tilt the closely divided court significantly to the right.
With that in mind, liberal groups are nervous about Kagan's lack of a judicial record on issues ranging from abortion to privacy. Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee describing as "troubling" a memo Kagan wrote in 1997 to President Bill Clinton urging him to back a ban on so-called "partial birth" abortions.
Conservative legal scholars are divided, with prominent legal scholars such as former Solicitors General Ted Olson and Ken Starr supporting her nomination. Starr, now president of Baylor University, calls her academic writings "simply superb." But grassroots conservative groups strongly opposed to Kagan have turned up the volume in the days leading up to the hearings.
"We agree with Kagan that the highest court in the land is no place for pure political activists and amateurs in need of on-the-job constitutional training," says Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition.
The final result of the hearing is a foregone conclusion. Republicans — even Kagan skeptics — say that she's headed for confirmation unless she commits a major blunder in coming days. But that doesn't mean there won't be tough questions, and eventual opposition, from most Senate Republicans, including both Texas senators.
Still, the Kagan hearings will contain far more than predictable political posturing. Here are five things to watch for during the hearings:
Continue reading "Kagan special report: A viewer's guide to the confirmation hearings"
Posted by Richard Dunham at 06:59 AM in John Cornyn, Special Report: Elena Kagan
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News links: Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert warns of baby-making terrorists coming to US
Welcome to the Texas on the Potomac news links. We will offer Texas links, "Potomac" links for Washington stories and a sampling of the best Texas political blogs. Please feel free to e-mail us with link suggestions.
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Texas Links
Despite opposition, Texas two-step primary process prevails The Dallas Morning News>>>
Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert warns of baby-making terrorists coming to US The New York Daily News>>>
Palin in Tyler: Says Obama falls short on leadership The Houston Chronicle>>>
FEMA prepares to close Texas City office The Galveston Daily News>>>
Potomac Links
Sen. Robert Byrd dead at 92; West Virginia lawmaker was the longest serving member of Congress in history The Washington Post>>>
The big college conference scramble Politico>>>
Senator Byrd 'seriously ill' The New York Times>>>
Extension of Bush tax cuts could test Republicans' deficit reduction resolve The Hill>>>
Texas Blogs
Boyd Richie defeats Michael Barnes to be TDP chairman The Texas Tribune>>>
Public Policy Polling: Kay's not O.K. Burka Blog>>>
Sugar Land stadium site selected Off the Kuff>>>
The politicization of grief at Dallas PD Grits for Breakfast>>>
Posted by Emily Cahn at 06:33 AM in News links
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The Week Ahead: Americans express increasing disappointment in government solutions
Welcome to Texas on the Potomac's "The Week Ahead," a preview of events to come on Capitol Hill and at the White House this week.
This week's report was written by William K. Moore of ViaNovo.
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In the 18th month of his presidency, President Barack Obama will notch another reshaping of government's relationship with the economy. Congress will send a major reform of financial market regulation to the president this week, joining his economic recovery package and refashioning of America's health care system as signature accomplishments of his Administration. Yet, these achievements are not defining the Obama presidency.
Obama's approval rating has slipped to 46 percent and approval of Congress is below 20 percent. By a 61-34 margin, Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Just 22 percent express trust in government, among the lowest measures in a half-century.
As Congress and the president enact activist answers to the nation's foremost problems, the public expresses a sharply declining desire for government solutions. At the same time, the public demands greater government action on Wall Street and to stop the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama may get credit for financial services reform, but needs good news from the Gulf to earn standing to begin to restore faith in government.
Congress has little chance of earning that standing itself. Last week, the Senate failed for the third time to renew tax provisions that expired six months ago and extend unemployment benefits to more than 1 million long-term jobless Americans. House Democrats will try again this week to find a path to passage of supplemental appropriations to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while acknowledging failure to reach agreement on a fiscal 2011 budget. They will leave town at the end of the week for the Independence Day recess without having brought any 2011 appropriations to the floor.
The public's evaluation of Democrats in June is exceptionally negative, and unless reversed, it will frame large losses in the 2010 midterm election that will imperil their congressional majorities.
Posted by Dana Amihere at 06:00 AM in The Week Ahead
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Today in Texas History: Texas ratifies 19th Amendment
On this date in 1919, the Texas Legislature ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote. Many Texas women advocated for women's suffrage on the federal level while simultaneously trying to create more visible and flexible roles for women in public life.
Traditional avenues for activism and change excluded women and other historically marginalized groups, such as African Americans, Chicanos, and immigrant groups in early American history. Many unions also excluded women. The right to vote was a male privilege and, arguably, a privilege for white, property owning and moneyed men despite electoral reforms across states and despite the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
Similarly, women had limited financial rights. Her husband's financial assets, regardless of her individual contributions to the household, often determined a woman's wealth. Many banks would not lend money to women or even allow women to open accounts in their own names. A woman's position in society, and particularly in the public sphere, was tied to the fortunes of her family or her husband. In short, women lacked individual economic security, representation through unions, and representation at the ballot box.
 Austin Public Library Minnie Fischer Cunningham, Texas suffragist (1882-1964). |
Despite being denied access to formal avenues for effecting change, women suffragists successfully advocated for the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. This legal victory demonstrates the creativity, determination and thoughtful organization of individual women and the suffragist movement generally. Texas women played a large role in the realization of this monumental change.
In 1893, the Texas Equal Suffrage Association formed and, in 1914, the state legislature defeated a suffrage bill. In 1917, Governor James "Pa" Ferguson, who opposed female suffrage, was impeached, permitting a new and more inclusive atmosphere in which pro-suffragist activists could participate and shape the debate for voting rights for women. In 1918, Texas women won the right to vote in state primaries and political conventions.
In the conventional historical narrative, and in high school history classes, the role of female activists is overlooked. Although a few, exceptional women are included in the narrative; the legwork of ordinary women remains absent from the story.
Minnie Fischer Cunningham was a Texas woman who navigated both state and federal terrain in the effort to realize her principal political goal -- extending voting rights to women. According to research conducted by the Women of the West Museum, Cunningham was born on March 19, 1882, in New Waverly, a small farming community. Despite humble beginning's Cunningham pursued higher education and became the second woman in Texas to earn a degree in pharmacy.
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The Museum's website states that Cunningham "vehemently opposed the attitude of many Southern men, that women should 'lift [their] skirts and step out of the dirty mire of politics,' and was convinced that Texas women wanted the right to vote," so Cunningham revived the Galveston Equal Suffrage Association and served as its president.
The Association petitioned legislators and staged public rallies. The Museum's site notes that Cunningham "...organized flashy parades of women who spoke boldly into bullhorns from their Model Ts."
Cunningham helped secure the passage of state legislation extending women the right to vote in Texas political primaries by carefully and strategically negotiating with Texas' competing state parties, arguing to her various audiences that giving women the right to vote might, in fact, broaden their voting base.
In 1919, Cunningham joined women in the nation's capital to rally for ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and encourage local legislatures to support national action on this issue. Upon final victory in 1920, Cunningham helped found the national League of Women Voters. This organization assisted Cunningham in her run for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 1928. Although she lost the election, she went on to hold positions in Texas government and led the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Cunningham ran again for state office in 1944, campaigning for governor but losing the race.
Cunningham passed away on December 9, 1964, a leading voice in equal rights for women both in Texas and the nation. Her contributions should be memorialized, but it is important to remember that her voice, although important, is not unique.
Cunningham was one of many women who joined local suffrage organizations. There are many other notable individuals whose stories should be told and who serve as inspiration for activism today.
Source: Women of the West Museum.
When contemplating activism, what do you consider as protest, advocacy and change? Do these terms generally invoke positive reaction or retaliation? Can you identify modern activists or activist groups by name? Can you think of ways in which you can effect change bypassing traditional routes of activism, such as voting and fundraising? How might women, who lack the tools and resources to advocate, change minds and improve their position? Do you think this activism might be different for women on the basis of their class, race, age or religious affiliation? Can you identify ways in which your mothers, grandmothers, wives, sisters, daughters and friends assert their opinions in ways similar to and different from men?
On the jump, a very important current equal rights issue for Texas women - the protection of women and support of women and men in the state of Texas. Also, on the jump, Texas native Janis Joplin sings an ageless but arguably gender-specific type of blues.
Continue reading "Today in Texas History: Texas ratifies 19th Amendment"
Posted by Hillary Sorin at 05:30 AM in Today in Texas History
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Photo Gallery: Remembering Dolph Briscoe
As a tribute to the late Dolph Briscoe, Texas governor from 1973 to 1979, we present a photo gallery of pictures taken during a reunion of modern Texas governors at the Texas Capitol. Other governors attending the reunion were Rick Perry, Mark White, Bill Clements and Preston Smith.
Photo Gallery by Bob Daemmrich
More on the jump page
Continue reading "Photo Gallery: Remembering Dolph Briscoe"
Posted by Richard Dunham at 12:22 AM in Photo galleries
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June 27, 2010
News quiz: Week of June 21
Posted by Emily Cahn at 07:47 PM in News Quiz
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Llewellyn King: Norman Macrae was a giant of journalism
Texas on the Potomac regularly offers you insight from Hearst Newspapers columnists. Today, we present a commentary by Llewellyn King, one of Washington's most respected analysts and host of the syndicated "White House Chronicle" television show.
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Norman Macrae, who died on June 11 in London aged of 86, looked into the future and saw it was good. So it should have been. He worked hard to make it so.
Macrae was one of the intellectual giants of latter part of the 20th century, who ceaselessly opposed all forms of collectivism, communism, socialism, statism and group think. But unlike his American contemporary and fellow philosopher of the right, Milton Friedman, Macrae was a journalist and as such he was influenced by what he saw, as well as what be believed.
One could say that as a philosopher, Macrae was more of a journalist and as a journalist, he was more of a philosopher.
Macrae had unique gifts and found a unique home in which to exercise them, The Economist—a magazine that resolutely calls itself a newspaper. He worked there for just shy of 40 years, and the glove fit the hand perfectly.
Macrae was not the kind of reporter who kicked down doors looking for smoking guns, nor was he likely to waste time and space speculating whether a politician would or should apologize for some slip of the tongue or judgment.
Instead Macrae, without pomp, actually tried to find out where the world was going.
He tackled such enormous issues as world health and education, and he found the trends that would change things permanently, far more than posturing politicians could or would do. He predicted the computer workstation, the collapse of communism, and the privatizations of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
Macrae added ideas to his times, corrected drift and exulted in the human condition. He even coined a few words like "telecommute," "stagflation," "intrapreneur" and possibly "privatize."
Continue reading "Llewellyn King: Norman Macrae was a giant of journalism"
Posted by Charles Lewis at 05:59 PM in Commentary
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Kagan special report: Conservatives divide over nomination
For the first 16 months of Barack Obama's presidency, conservatives had a common rallying point: opposition to most anything the White House sought.
Obama's nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court has changed that.
 AP file photo Baylor University president Kenneth Starr |
As Kagan's confirmation hearings begin Monday, conservatives are divided on the merits of her nomination.
Prominent conservative legal thinkers from Kenneth Starr, the solicitor general under President George H.W. Bush and an independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton, to Miguel Estrada have expressed support for Kagan. In backing Kagan, they cite her career in academia and her tenure as solicitor general.
Many Senate Republicans, though, who will ultimately vote on the nomination, have indicated reservations, citing Kagan's lack of experience on the bench. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "It's hard to really see what she brings to the life of the Supreme Court . . .other than her political experience."
Other conservatives also are leaning toward the ``no'' column.
Ed Meese, who served as attorney general in the Reagan administration, said in an interview that Kagan is an "anti-constitutionalist," meaning she "feel(s) judges should substitute their own ideas . . . for what the Constitution actually says." Meese is an executive with the conservative Heritage Foundation.
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Some Republicans have sought to play down the division.
"Every time we have a nomination, you have some who are known as Republicans or conservatives who take the other side," said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "There is nothing unusual about the number of conservatives supporting her."
One conservative, Charles Fried, a solicitor general in the Reagan administration and a professor at Harvard Law School who worked with Kagan during her tenure as dean there, said he doesn't think Kagan would be an automatic liberal vote on the court.
"On the big things, one can expect a really independent take which will not just repeat all the slogans that we've seen on the left and on the left of the court," Fried said.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wasn't as certain. "Deep down, she's going to be a liberal," he said in an interview. "But, I hope he (Fried) is right."
Meese was blunter. "I think, based on what we know about her, she would be a 100 percent reliable liberal vote," he said.
Some conservatives, like Meese and Sessions, interpret her selections of legal role models — said to include retired federal appellate judge Abner Mikva, the late Justice Thurgood Marshall and Aharon Barak, a former president of the Supreme Court of Israel — as clues about what she would be like as a judge.
"A person's heroes tell a great deal about who they really are," said Sessions, who described Barak, Marshall and Mikva as "the vanguard of the left-wing judicial activist movement."
Kagan has "a very clear, liberal, political record," he said.
Starr, while declining to characterize any significance of Kagan's judicial role models, said Kagan has left a paper trail, despite her lack of judicial experience.
"Elena obviously has no judicial opinions, but she does have academic writings, and some of the writings, I happen to think, are simply superb," he said.
Starr, who now serves as president of Baylor University, said he supports Kagan because of her experience and the president's right to choose his appointees, not because he expects to share identical legal opinions with her.
"When a president has the opportunity to appoint a member of the Supreme Court, that choice carries with it a heavy presumption," Starr said, noting he would be quick to support a qualified nominee, even if he does "not agree with the person judicially on a variety of issues."
He also said that Kagan's experience is equal to past members of the high court. "Someone who has served in her various capacities, even without judicial experience, is as qualified as some of the finest justices ever to serve," Starr said.
The question of experience is a touchy issue for some Republicans.
Cornyn, who has expressed skepticism about Kagan's lack of a judicial background, was a vocal supporter of President George W. Bush's 2005 nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Miers, like Kagan, had no judicial experience.
However, the Texas Republican sees a distinction. ``Harriet Miers really did bring in unprecedented legal experience," Cornyn said, referring to her years in private law practice. Kagan, on the other hand, does not bring either tenure on the bench or "practical lawyering experience,'' he said.
Even Republicans who are wary of Kagan's nomination concede she is likely to be confirmed with at least some support from Senate Republicans. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said, "At the end of the day, I feel certain she will have (some) Republican support."
SPECIAL REPORT: THE KAGAN NOMINATION
>>> Vote in our TxPotomac poll: Do you favor or oppose the nomination of Elena Kagan?
>>>Exclusive interview: Cornyn says concerns about nominee remain
>>> The Bork confirmation battle has had a lasting impact on the Supreme Court confirmation process
Today's report:
>>> Some liberals worry that the nominee might be a closet moderate
>>> Conservatives divided over Kagan's nomination
Posted by Alan Blinder at 03:49 PM in Special Report: Elena Kagan
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Kagan special report: Some liberals worry about the nominee
Conservatives are the chief skeptics about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, but liberals have worries of their own.
Liberals, especially civil liberties advocates, fear that the 50-year-old nominee who now serves as the Obama administration's solicitor general is insufficiently committed to their causes.
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Objections from the left focus mostly on Kagan's legal advocacy for policies inherited from President George W. Bush to keep terrorism suspects and war prisoners in American custody overseas and out of U.S. courts.
``Kagan's stated commitment to due process and judicial review for detainees (has) not been reflected in positions she has taken as solicitor general on behalf of the Obama administration,'' said the ACLU in a 30-page review of Kagan's record.
Since becoming solicitor general last year, Kagan has represented the Obama administration in court against detainees seeking release from U.S. prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Afghanistan.
In one case, she opposed release from Guantanamo of Uighur prisoners from a remote province in northwest China, even though the U.S. government had conceded they were not enemy combatants.
In another case, she opposed giving detainees in Afghanistan access to U.S. courts because Afghanistan is a war zone.
Kagan won both cases.
But as dean of Harvard Law School prior to becoming solicitor general, Kagan had signed letters opposing tough Bush administration positions on detainee rights and representation by lawyers.
In February, Kagan argued before the Supreme Court that a lawyer who filed a brief on behalf of an organization identified by the U.S. government as terrorist could risk criminal prosecution. Last week, the high court ruled in favor of the government's position, but sidestepped the point that Kagan had raised.
``I am sad to say that . . .Kagan's record indicates a troubling support for expanding presidential powers, something we must be vigilant about,'' said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has represented detainees in court.
``President Obama would appear to be seeking to appoint a Supreme Court (justice) who will endorse his policies and appease conservatives.''
Kagan's defenders say there's a world of difference between her own legal views and those she espouses on behalf of the Obama administration.
Kagan herself is not giving interviews in anticipation of Senate confirmation hearings, which begin Monday. But in an interview with the National Law Journal in May, Kagan said that as solicitor general, she ``represents the long-term interests of the United States and (in) a great many matters, those interests are stable from administration to administration. The client, you might say, doesn't change.''
With conservatives on the Senate Judiciary Committee expected to cast her as a left-liberal ideologue with hard positions favoring abortion rights and gun control, liberals might point to some of Kagan's detainee arguments as a way of framing her as a centrist.
``There's no question that moderate positions in her record will help her,'' said a Democratic congressional aide, who asked not to be identified. ``Some of positions she's taken are not kneejerk left, and that's going to be useful in the confirmation (hearings).''
SPECIAL REPORT: THE KAGAN NOMINATION
>>> Vote in our TxPotomac poll: Do you favor or oppose the nomination of Elena Kagan?
>>>Exclusive interview: Cornyn says concerns about nominee remain
>>> The Bork confirmation battle has had a lasting impact on the Supreme Court confirmation process
Today's report:
>>> Some liberals worry that the nominee might be a closet moderate
>>> Conservatives divided over Kagan's nomination
Posted by Daniel Freedman at 01:59 PM in Special Report: Elena Kagan
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Political cartoons of the week: McChrystal self-destructs
Every Sunday, Texas on the Potomac presents some of the best political cartoons from the award-winning artists of Hearst Newspapers. Today, we feature work by David Horsey of SeattlePI.com, Nick Anderson of the Houston Chronicle and John de Rosier of the Albany Times Union.
Posted by Richard Dunham at 07:00 AM in Military (Pentagon Watch), Political cartoons of the week
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Today in Texas History: Texas revolution erupts, first blood spilled
On this date in 1832, the Texas Revolution witnessed its first bloodshed, commonly known as the Anahuac Disturbances.
 Texas A&M University General Manuel Terán (1789-1832). |
Trouble began brewing between the Mexican government and the growing Anglo-American population following the influx of Anglo-American settlers after the abrogation of the Law of 1830, which had prohibited Anglo-American immigration to Mexico. Additionally, Anglo-American settlers already living in Texas refused to pay taxes, provoking ill will between the Mexican government and the Anglo community.
The Mexican leader asked General Jose Manuel De Mier Y Terán to restore order and reinforce the legitimacy and supremacy of the Mexican government in the increasingly ungovernable region. The General installed George Fisher as a collector of customs responsible for enforcing the collection of the national tariff. The General installed John Davis Bradburn, an Anglo-American, to regulate land title laws and disband the ayuntamiento or municipal council. These appointments caused great unrest because many settlers viewed both men as despots.
Skirmishes erupted as Anglo-American immigrants refused to pay taxes to the Mexican government and refused to cede power to the authorities. In response, the Mexican government tried to enforce the measures militarily.
The rhetoric and measures used by the Mexican government to suppress Anglo-American power, specifically in Texas, ironically share similarities with the rhetoric and measures used today by anti-immigration groups and politicians. For instance, General Terán expressed concern about what he perceived as the inability of incoming Anglo- American immigrants to assimilate effectively into Mexican culture.
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Mexico, in the 1830s, and the United States, in more recent years, pursued legal means to restrict immigration. Government officials in both countries pointed to national security and the sanctity of the nation to justify their positions against border-crossers and border shifting.
On the jump, Professor Gregory Rodriguez presents his 2007 book, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds, to the New America Foundation. Professor Rodriguez addresses Mexican history and contemporary issues facing Mexico and Mexican immigrants in the United States. He examines these issues by incorporating Mexico's national and cultural heritage as a significant site for historical analysis. Republican Rep. Ted Poe also presents Texas history on dissent and freedom. He, too, narrates history from an insider's perspective. What do their presentations and perspectives on the history of Mexican-American relations reveal about their own subjectivity?
Continue reading "Today in Texas History: Texas revolution erupts, first blood spilled"
Posted by Hillary Sorin at 12:07 AM in Today in Texas History
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June 26, 2010
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Posted by Richard Dunham at 10:15 PM in Texas on the Potomac: About us
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Gary Andres: A gusher of debt
Texas on the Potomac welcomes guest opinions from across the political spectrum. Today, we present a commentary from Gary Andres of Dutko Worldwide.
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When tiny globs of gooey brown oil began washing up on Gulf shores, it foreshadowed a more ominous environmental calamity lurking just over the horizon.
These first signs were troubling enough. But they also revealed a more daunting threat riding incoming tides that might prove impossible to fix.
The Gulf disaster is a metaphor for our federal spending and debt crisis. Globs of budgetary red ink have been washing up in Washington for some time now. Cleaning up the immediate problem is hard enough. But the difficulty policymakers face addressing the current fiscal mess only underscores a larger challenge.
The Senate's efforts over the past month, trying to enact a state aid/unemployment/tax extender bill are illustrative. The Democrats' original plan exemplified politics as usual. These initiatives all cost the federal government money. But instead of making the tough choices necessary to pay for these benefits, they proposed just adding more to the deficit.
But with an election looming and nervous voters increasingly cranky about unsustainable debt, the original Senate plan, which increased the federal debt because it offset less than one-third of the $190 billion in spending, ran into a buzz saw of opposition.
Continue reading "Gary Andres: A gusher of debt"
Posted by Charles Lewis at 04:33 PM in Commentary
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