Politics

Kagan was ‘not sympathetic’ as law clerk to gun-rights argument

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As the Kagan memos slowly begin to flutter out of the Clinton Library — despite the protests of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy — liberals and conservatives alike are finding things to dislike about the Supreme Court nominee.

As The Daily Caller’s Mike Riggs reported, liberals find Elena Kagan’s politics too centris as she frequently defended executive privileges in the Clinton White House. Conservatives, on the other hand have noted Kagan’s curious attacks on the military for its DADT policies. Both side note the aggravation caused by this “blank slate” nominee, who offers little in the way of outlined or stated principals.

Now, however, Second Amendment enthusiasts may find Kagan’s sycophantic paper trail a cause for concern.

As a clerk under Thurgood Marshall, Kagan urged the justice to vote against hearing an appeal regarding Second Amendment handgun rights in the District of Columbia, according to Bloomberg News. In responding to the man’s basic constitutional rights, Kagan offered very little, except personal feeling:

The man’s “sole contention is that the District of Columbia’s firearms statutes violate his constitutional right to ‘keep and bear arms,’” Kagan wrote. “I’m not sympathetic.”

Nearly a decade later, after the court over ruled D.C. handgun ban in the milestone Heller case, Kagan backed away from her personal feelings on the principal that what’s fine with the court is fine with her:

“There is no question, after Heller, that the Second Amendment guarantees individuals the right to keep and bear arms and that this right, like others in the Constitution, provides strong although not unlimited protection against governmental regulation,” she said.

The about-face came when Kagan was a nominee for solicitor general and the side-stepping of memos past was Kagan’s favorite dance. As she explained to the senators during her confirmation hearing, she was just doing what she was told:

…  Kagan said she was trying to reflect Marshall’s views when she evaluated so-called petitions for certiorari, or cert petitions. She called herself a “27-year-old pipsqueak” working for a “90- year-old giant in the law.”

“He was asking us, in the context in those cert petitions, to channel him and to think about what cases he would want the court to decide,” Kagan said. “And in that context, I think all of us were right to say, ‘Here are the cases which the court is likely to do good things with from your perspective, and here are the ones where they’re not.’”

Obama’s nominee has remained mum on her private life as well as her professional one, and the White House has stonewalled any attempts at grilling Kagan. The only “interview” granted thus far was been conducted the White House staffer.

Full story:Kagan Was ‘Not Sympathetic’ as Law Clerk to Gun-Rights Argument – Bloomberg.com