-
SEQUESTER: The Horror!
March 1, 2013 | 4 comments
-
SOTU Preview: Human Props, Budget Fights, and Wedge Issues
February 12, 2013 | 0 comments
-
Hello, I Must Be Going
August 14, 2012 | 18 comments
-
Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Paul Ryan Edition
August 12, 2012 | 16 comments
-
Esquire Blogger Sees Paul Ryan, Shreds His Safety Net
August 11, 2012 | 13 comments
The Spectacle Blog
As Phil says, Republicans probably won’t mount much of an effort to defeat Elena Kagan and are even less likely to succeed if they do. She is about as good as we can get from Obama; her nomination won’t affect the liberal-conservative balance on the Court; she’ll probably have to recuse herself from some cases; other than the military recruiters at Harvard, she really doesn’t have a “wise Latina” moment.
Still, the Republicans should make the confirmation hearings about the proper role of the judiciary and what a constitutionalist jurisprudence would look like. Wherever Kagan is at odds with this, it should be highlighted. Republicans should also not pay any lip service to the idea of Kagan as an umpire. Liberals regard the Supreme Court as another policymaking body and Obama is appointing her to preserve liberal policies on abortion, affirmative action, national security, the treatment of criminals, and other issues.
Given this last point, it will be interesting to see if Republicans continue their trend away from being a rubber stamp for whomever the president nominates to the Supreme Court. They voted overwhelmingly for Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg even after the borking of Robert Bork and the near-borking of Clarence Thomas. Republicans didn’t get serious until Harriet Miers and Sonia Sotomayor.
UPDATE: Maggie Gallagher argues that a vote for Kagan is a vote for gay marriage.
View all comments (22) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/05/10/republicans-and-kagan
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Teflon93| 5.10.10 @ 12:29PM
What foolishness!
Do you think the Democrats consider "balance on the Court" when it comes to replacing judicial conservatives? Of course not!
Senate Republicans, being spineless, seek every excuse not to fight Democrats.
This is just the latest capitulation.
And I thought that the excuse for waving Sotomayor through was we'd fight the next one....
Siegfried X| 5.10.10 @ 1:05PM
" I thought that the excuse for waving Sotomayor through was we'd fight the next one"
Yup, there is an always an excuse for not fighting this time around. There's always an excuse for caving in and approving THIS nominee or passing THIS piece of socialist legislation. Then we are told that SOME DAY, Republican politicians will really begin fighting back.
It is clear that they have decided to "fake fight, go left". Rather like Arlen Specter when he was Republican. Make a little noise like a conservative and Republican, but then cave in and quietly vote with the liberal Democrats.
Siegfried X| 5.10.10 @ 1:26PM
"Next time... next time I'm going to stand up to the bully and fight, instead of running away", said the little boy.
"My boy fought hard. This fight wasn't fixed. We'll prove that in the next fight", said the manager after his fighter dove to the mat and laid still, following a punch that missed him by a foot.
Derek Leaberry| 5.10.10 @ 12:54PM
Not only will the Republicans submit, I wouldn't be surprised if several Republicans publicly submit themselves to being made into eunuchs by Elena Kagan.
Pingback| 5.10.10 @ 12:55PM
Twitter Trackbacks for Republicans and Kagan :: AmSpecBlog [spectator.org] on Topsy. links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Oldefarte| 5.10.10 @ 1:04PM
She'll be a vote for liberalism if any case involving HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS comes up; and it will be next to impossible for Republicans to critisize her for fear of being labled as HOMOPHOBES!!!!
JP| 5.10.10 @ 3:33PM
There isn't much the GOP can do. Based on last year's performance, there is no way the Senate GOP could muster enough votes to filibuster (Dick Lugar litterally ran to his Senate office computer right after the hearings in order to post that he would be the first Senator to give Sotomayer his blessings. He ran that fact on his website for over a month).
And besides Lugar, there are the likes of Bennett, Lindsay Gramm, Orin Hatch, Scott Brown (he will pick his fights carefully), Susan Collins, Saxby Chambliss and Olympia Snowe. Right there are 8 GOP Senators that will need no nudging to cast a yea vote.
The GOP's only recourse is to get Kagan to commit some gaffes or say things that will be to the Righ of Obama. But, nominees are so well coached, and so well prepared (they are lawyers, afterall) that it would be impossible to get them to slip up.
This is a consequence of getting shellacked in 2 straight election cycles.
Nick| 5.10.10 @ 4:01PM
JP,
Excellent analysis.
Nothing to add, you have covered everything.
Grzmlyk| 5.10.10 @ 4:13PM
Not only that, but Republicans are genetically incapable of fighting judicial nominees at any level.
And so once again we have the grotesque spectacle of the GOP bringing a squirt gun to a real fire fight. Obama could put Louis Farrakahn up there and Repubs would vote "yea."
As long as the Dems dictate the terms of every political argument - any votes against any members of any victim groups prove bigotry on the part of the right - we are screwed.
Conservativism is cultural anathema today - even while liberalism sinks so many ships of state in Europe right before our eyes, and even as California, NY, NJ, Michigan and others bail madly to stay afloat.
It is amazing to watch.
Teflon93| 5.10.10 @ 4:20PM
Republican senators had better take note of what happened to RINO Bennett in Utah.
They can filibuster Kagan. They can also tie the Senate in knots until November by filibustering everything else.
All that is required is scrotal magnitude.
Grzmlyk| 5.10.10 @ 4:35PM
From your lips to God's ears.
But I'm not holding my breath. I think they'll roll over - again - for her.
They're even more feckless when it comes to judicial nominees than they are in other areas.
I am not optimistic that the GOP will EVER get it. I have night sweats thinking that 2012 will be a clean sweep for the GOP and that the "new breed" will proceed to revert exactly to traditional GOP form as feckless, craven, Democrat-lite politicians.
I keep picturing some faceless newly-minted Republican senator taking the oath of office and then promptly grabbing a letter opener and castrating himself the second he figures out that getting reelected means doling out the lucre.
Siegfried X| 5.10.10 @ 4:52PM
"... feckless, craven, Democrat-lite politicians. "
It is clear that a lot of the Republican politicians think "Democrat lite" is a winner. They're going to keep voting that way.
We should run conservatives against those RINOs in the primary. Problem is they will probably act conservative for long enough to win the primary, then start voting like Democrats again. (Does anyone think that John McCain will keep voting like a conservative AFTER he is reelected?)
Jeff Perren | 5.10.10 @ 4:20PM
"Republicans didn't get serious until Harriet Miers and Sonia Sotomayor."
If this refers to Republican politicians, I would argue that - with very few exceptions - they are not serious yet, and not just about judicial appointments.
Republican politicians have, for the most part, played softball with the Obama administration, the current Democratically controlled Congress, and the entire Federal Government.
None - not even Paul Ryan, who is head and shoulders above the rest - is calling for fundamental change. And that is what this country desperately needs before it becomes the next Sweden, or worse.
Just to cite some examples, even Ryan voted for TARP, probably as much out of panic and pragmatism and any real understanding of the consequences.
Charlie Rangle and Chris Dodd are not in jail, as they should be.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are still in business.
The list could go on for ten articles length or more.
Sadly, I don't expect this to change anytime soon.
Nick| 5.10.10 @ 5:01PM
Orin Hatch was on Cavuto earlier and said, "One can be liberal and still be a good justice." To which, Cavuto SHOULD have asked him, "Name One!"
Hatch must have been napping over the weekend, while his buddy Bennet was losing his "job."
Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Charles Umhey| 5.10.10 @ 5:30PM
It is apparent from the comments that almost everyone lacks fatih that the Republicans will use this nomination to bring an open debate as to the function of the court. Unfortunately they always lack the courage to stick to their so called "core values" which seem to have been lacking over the last decade. Until they show some spine they will continue to be a minority party and we will be ruled by the Progressive statists. Forget about this "Big Win" in November it ain't gonna happen without some great change in the public's perception of the GOP.
Ken (Old Texican)| 5.11.10 @ 9:52AM
Charles,
Guys,
Kagan, is simply a battle we cannot win. Get over it. It ain't the end of the war OK?
Conversely, November is in my mind the last chance for the ballot box to save our constitutional republic.
That battle is going to be ALL about turnout.
Please stop being wimpier than our Republican congress critters.....please.
I hear a lot of folks here throwing their hands up in defeat.
Suck it up , guys.
If you give up hope in our republic now and sow defeatism re November...please consider what comes next very very carefully.
Teflon93| 5.11.10 @ 5:15PM
Last I saw there were 41 Republicans in the Senate. That is enough to filibuster this nominee.
In the event they elect not to, they can keep the nomination bottled up until the election by refusing to act on any other Senate business (by filibustering it.) No cap-and-tax, no VAT, no nothing until she is withdrawn.
Won't isn't the same as can't.
Pingback| 5.11.10 @ 11:25AM
Built to spill | Insurance Salvage Cars links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: