When Obama’s Supreme Court selection turned out to be a woman who never even held a position on the legal bench and had more questions in her career than court cases, most were not surprised and new any resulting decision would be questionable not only when it came to ability and experience but also credibility for the job. Nonetheless, Elena Kagan was not what anyone really expected.
Even before being a line on Obama’s list, Kagan has been examined and have left many wondering if she even has the ability to be on the bench in the first place. With many actions literally threatening laws she is sworn to defend, it seems the magnifying glass placed on her career recently seems unneeded as not only does she have a thin list of legal writings, but also a pretty obvious controversial legal history. In fact, even her non-legal positions was seen to her as her own personal courtroom. In attempt to bar the military from using the office of Career Services, Kagan attempted to connect “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the right for military to be present on campuses during her term as Dean of Harvard Law School. While Obama’s colleague Senator John Kerry may have once stated that it is the undereducated who enlist, statistics show otherwise.
The strangest part of this was not only the fact that it was not through the bench, but through an educational avenue that she acted upon this “connection”, but also the real lack of relation the two objectives had other than military. Despite using the excuse of their refusal to sign a non-Discriminatory pledge, this within itself should have been a reason for her to be removed from the list almost immediately as she was using a non-judicial position to impose a judicial belief. Of course, with the threat of losing funding she retracted showing another example of a liberal attempting to bow out after their actions fail.
Despite her supposed stellar schooling, Kagan seemed to have missed a very important class. During one of her other positions, she argued in front of the same court she may soon call home to declare that Congress has the right to constitutionally prohibit corporations from engaging in political speech such as publishing pamphlets that advocate the election or defeat of a candidate for federal office. Chief Justice Roberts responded to this horrid attempt strongly stating in his Opinion against the case her debate if won would have resulted in, “censorship not only of television and radio broadcasts, but of pamphlets, posters, the Internet, and virtually any other medium that corporations and unions might find useful in expressing their views on matters of public concern.”
Once again, another colleague of Obama’s didn’t take Constitutional Law.
The reason for this argument shows in many ways why she was nominated for the position in the first place: the entire argumentdebate was a result of deciding whether Citizens United, a conservative non-profit corporation, could distribute a documentary titled “Hillary: The Movie” during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary season. This in itself shows her prospective appointment is nothing more than Democrats attempting to take a hold of the only position they cannot be fired from.
When it comes to presenting a lifetime appointment to the highest and most powerful court in the nation, no other objective than who is good for the nation should come to mind. This position is part of the largest judgments of the nation and creates results that not only extend past state lines but in many ways past generations. Further, in many ways this was a chance for Obama to show the Pro-American he presented himself as during the campaign and not the backwards deal maker we have seen since ObamaCare’s second time around. A great deal of fear should result in this announcement as well as hope that Kagan does not see her first bench in a particular D.C. building.
Heather Bachman is a political commentator and broadcaster and a New Jersey native. More information can be found at HeatherBachman.com.