A Few Highlights from Day 1 of Kagan Hearings

We thought we would highlight a few notable moments from today's Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Solicitor General Elena Kagan:

1.    Senator Klobuchar's (D-MN) flip-flip on the importance of judicial experience. As reported by Senate Republicans, Sen. Klobuchar said three weeks ago: "[I]f we just put judges on the Court that have handled no difficult cases, that haven't been in the arena, or people who have never been judges before and so they didn't have those difficult decisions, I don't think we'd have a strong Judiciary." Today, Sen. Klobuchar was singing a different tune, when she said: "Now, even with the variety of legal experiences that you have had, questions have been raised as to whether it is appropriate to nominate someone to the Supreme Court who has never been a judge before." Senator Klobuchar, who some have mentioned as a potential Supreme Court pick, should know better to have not worked the experience angle into her opening remarks.

2.    Senator Scott Brown's (R-MA) introduction: As Senator Brown remarked, it is a "long standing tradition" for Senators of the home state of the nominee to introduce that nominee. While originally from New York, Kagan lived in Massachusetts during her time as Dean of Harvard Law (and presumably while she went to law school there as well) and apparently considers it her home state. Brown did not take a position on Kagan during his introduction and said he looked forward to a "thorough and fair examination" of Ms. Kagan's record. Brown's vote will be important for both sides in this debate. If the Democrats peel off a Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, or other more moderate Republican Senator, then President Obama can say he gave us a consensus nominee.

3.    Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC): Senator Graham mentioned Kagan's admiration for Judge Aharon Barak as a negative and something she would have to elaborate on:

Your judicial hero is an interesting guy. You're going to have a lot of explaining to do to me about why you picked Judge [Aharon] Barak as your hero because when I read his writings, it's a bit disturbing about his view of what a judge is supposed to do for society as a whole, but I'm sure you'll have good answers and I look forward to that discussion.

Kagan had previously mentioned the controversial Aharon Barak, a retired judge formerly on the Supreme Court of Israeli, as her "judicial hero." (Please click here for more on Barak.)

More to follow….