Kyl: I Don’t Think Kagan Represents ‘Extreme Circumstances’ For Filibuster
Appearing on Face The Nation, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) said that Elena Kagan’s nomination for the Supreme Court would not be filibustered. “I don’t think so,” he said. “The filibuster should be relegated to the extreme circumstances, and I don’t think Elena Kagan represents that.”
Feinstein Dismisses ‘Gingrich Hyperbole’
Appearing on Face The Nation, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) rebutted former Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-GA) call for the Senate to oppose Elena Kagan’s nomination on the grounds that she is “disqualified from the very beginning” due to her policies on military recruiters at Harvard. Feinstein called it “nonsense. I think it’s Gingrich hyperbole. I hope no one would fall for that.”
Sessions: Kagan Hearings ‘Going To Be A Big Deal’
Appearing on This Week, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s upcoming confirmation hearing would be very important — and he referred back to Kagan’s own criticism of the process, that nominees were not ask specific enough questions: “And she did criticize a lack of specificity in some nominees. I thought John Roberts struck about the right tone, perhaps even more open — was more open than Sotomayor, for example. So she’s criticized the nominees and the process for not being more specific. I think we’ll be looking at her testimony, because she has so little other record. This is going to be a big deal. It’s so important how she testifies.”
Leahy: Criticism Of Kagan Over Military Issues ‘Sound And Fury Signifying Nothing’
Appearing on This Week, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) brushed off Republican criticisms of Elena Kagan regarding her policies towards military recruiters at Harvard: “Well, this is like in Shakespeare, sound and fury signifying nothing. She — the recruiters were always on the Harvard campus. She’s shown her respect for the veterans there. She every year on Veterans Day, she had a dinner for all the veterans and their families who were there at Harvard. Recruiting went on at Harvard every single day throughout the time she was— she was there. She was trying to follow Harvard’s policy. She was also trying to make sure that students who wanted to go in the military could.”
McConnell: ‘Republicans Have Treated Supreme Court Nominees A Lot Better Than The Democrats Have’
Appearing on Meet The Press, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said: “Look, David [Gregory], the Republicans have treated Supreme Court nominees a lot better than the Democrats have. I can’t think of a single Supreme Court nominee by a Democratic president who’s been treated the way Robert Bork was, the way Clarence Thomas was, the way Sam Alito was, who was filibustered by the president, the vice president, the Democratic leader and the chairman of the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. I’ve never filibustered a Supreme Court nomination.”
Schumer: Kagan ‘Hardly A Blank Slate’
Appearing on Meet The Press, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said of Elena Kagan: “She doesn’t have judicial experience, but she has a lot of experience, a lot of practical experience. She’s hardly a blank slate. You’ll look at all of her writings, she wrote many articles as a professor. What she did when she was working in the Clinton White House, that’s all going to be available—Freedom of Information—to the Kennedy Library—or the Clinton Library has been put forward. There’ll be plenty of information about her. And this idea that she has to be a judge and has judicial writing, some of our greatest justices had no judicial—Justice Marshall, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Jackson. Rehnquist, who many conservatives would consider a great justice, had about as much judicial experience as Kagan has.”
Palin: ‘We’re All Arizonans Now’
Sarah Palin appeared with Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) for a news conference on Saturday, defending Arizona’s new illegal immigration law and criticizing President Obama for the federal government’s handing of immigration. “It’s time for Americans across this great country to stand up and say, ‘We’re all Arizonans now,’” Palin said. “And in clear unison we say, ‘Mr. President: Do your job. Secure our border.’”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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