Is Kagan a bleeding heart or right-wing Bushie?
I’d be miffed if I were Elena Kagan. This morning, as President Obama introduced his new Supreme Court nominee, he predictably lavished her with praise as “one of the nation’s foremost legal minds” and “a trailblazing leader.” He went on specifically to laud her work as solicitor general: “During her time in this office, she’s repeatedly defended the rights of shareholders and ordinary citizens against unscrupulous corporations. Last year, in the Citizens United case, she defended bipartisan campaign finance reform against special interests seeking to spend unlimited money to influence our elections.” In choosing to highlight these cases, Obama clearly was trying to play to the liberal wing of his party. Conveniently not mentioned were cases in which Kagan or her office argued for positions loathed by the left. For example, Kagan’s staff argued against extending habeas corpus rights to detainees held in Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base. She personally urged the Supreme Court to read an an
