Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan don't get underway until later this summer, but that doesn't the courting process. Here are a few of the stories going around today:
Current Justice Antonin Scalia thinks Kagan's lack of judicial experience is a good thing.
“William Rehnquist came to the Bench from the Office of Legal Counsel. Byron White was Deputy Attorney General. And Lewis Powell who was a private lawyer in Richmond and had been president of the American Bar Association.”
“Currently, there is nobody on the Court who has not served as a judge –indeed, as a federal judge — all nine of us,” he continued. “. . . I am happy to see that this latest nominee is not a federal judge – and not a judge at all.”
Former Justice Sandra O'Connor weighed in as well, predicting the nominee will be confirmed:
“She seems to be very well qualified academically” and said Kagan doesn’t need any advice on how to get through the “unpleasant” and “dreadful” confirmation process.
Meanwhile, a new USAToday/Gallup poll indicates Americans want to see Kagan confirmed, by a 46-32 margin.
