Cautious Yet Troubling Pick in Kagan

Cautious Yet Troubling Pick in Kagan

Katrina vanden Heuvel describes Kagan as a careful choice, who needs to be pressed about her views on executive power.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

On The Ed Show, Ed Schultz wants to know what the editorial board at The Nation thinks about Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. He brings in Editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel to find out. Vanden Heuvel describes Kagan as a “cautious pick” but says that there are some “troubling issues and questions that need to be raised…about her views on executive power.” But she says that the GOP notion that she is not experienced enough is nonsense.

“If you need that kind of experience to pass what we just got out of the Citizens United decision, unleashing corporate money…polluting our political system. What value are judicial robes?” vanden Heuvel asks. Attacking Kagan for her lack of experience and her praise of Thurgood Marshall shows how disembodied the Republican Party has become with from their roots, vanden Heuvel says. “It is a pale, stale party…soon going to be called the Grand Obstructionist Party.”

—Morgan Ashenfelter

Thank you for reading The Nation!

We hope you enjoyed the story you just read, just one of the many incisive, deeply-reported articles we publish daily. Now more than ever, we need fearless journalism that shifts the needle on important issues, uncovers malfeasance and corruption, and uplifts voices and perspectives that often go unheard in mainstream media.

Throughout this critical election year and a time of media austerity and renewed campus activism and rising labor organizing, independent journalism that gets to the heart of the matter is more critical than ever before. Donate right now and help us hold the powerful accountable, shine a light on issues that would otherwise be swept under the rug, and build a more just and equitable future.

For nearly 160 years, The Nation has stood for truth, justice, and moral clarity. As a reader-supported publication, we are not beholden to the whims of advertisers or a corporate owner. But it does take financial resources to report on stories that may take weeks or months to properly investigate, thoroughly edit and fact-check articles, and get our stories into the hands of readers.

Donate today and stand with us for a better future. Thank you for being a supporter of independent journalism.

Thank you for your generosity.

Ad Policy
x