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View Full Version : Kagan: In Bush v. Gore, Court Was Affected By Politics And Policy




bobbyw24
05-19-2010, 08:42 AM
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan wrote in 2003 that the court's decision to effectively grant George W. Bush the 2000 election was an example of politics and policy affecting the process of judicial review.

In preparatory notes for remarks she delivered to Princeton alumni in June of that year, the soon-to-be dean of Harvard Law School clearly suggested that in Bush v. Gore, the court strayed from strict judicial mores.

"Courts have indisputable role to play in [governing] system - one check (of many) on dangers of [illegible] majority institutions," the note reads -- with abbreviations spelled out.

"But on other hand.... There does remain a problem. Problem of Platonic Guardians, deciding what we the people can + can't do," Kagan went on. "If Judicial Review were mechanical, [this] wouldn't be issue. 'That's their job.... Read the constitution.... Apply it to prevent majority's attempts to violate it."

"The problem is that intent is difficult itself - the problem is that [interpretation] is intoned -- necessarily + inevitably -- with political + policy questions."

"Bush v. Gore is only the tip of the iceberg. It happens all over. And we know it does."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/19/kagan-in-bush-v-gore-cour_n_581511.html