Scalia Suggested Kagan for Supreme Court

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/14/opinions/david-axelrod-surprise-request-from-justice-scalia/

Sotomayor was chosen instead though Kagan was later named.


Justice David Souter, Scalia’s longtime colleague on the court, had just announced his retirement, creating a vacancy for President Obama to fill. Scalia figured that as senior adviser to the new president, I might have some influence on the decision — or at least enough to pass along a message.
“I have no illusions that your man will nominate someone who shares my orientation,” said Scalia, then in his 23rd year as the court’s leading and most provocative conservative voice. “But I hope he sends us someone smart.”

A little taken aback that he was engaging me on the subject, I searched for the right answer, and lamely offered one that signaled my slight discomfort with the topic. “I’m sure he will, Justice Scalia.”

He wasn’t done. Leaning forward, as if to share a confidential thought, he tried again.

“Let me put a finer point on it,” the justice said, in a lower, purposeful tone of voice, his eyes fixed on mine. “I hope he sends us Elena Kagan.”


But when another vacancy arose a year later with the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, Obama did nominate Kagan, whose friendship with Scalia would grow in the years to come, even as they differed, sometimes sharply, on issues before them.

During her confirmation meetings with senators, Kagan had vowed to go hunting to allay their concerns about her cultural awareness on the issue of guns. When she joined the court, she asked her friend, Scalia, to take her. The two, who occasionally shot intellectual darts at each other on paper, became regular, if unlikely, hunting partners.

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/justice-kagan-and-justice-scalia-are-hunting-buddies-really/277401/


Justice Kagan and Justice Scalia Are Hunting Buddies—Really

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan bagged herself a deer on a hunting trip to Wyoming with Justice Antonin Scalia last fall. You heard that right: Despite finding themselves on opposite sides of major court decisions, the liberal Obama-appointee and the conservative Reagan-appointee have become hunting buddies since Kagan was confirmed in 2010 as the fourth woman in history to sit on the highest court in the land.

"I shoot birds with him, fairly -- you know, two or three times a year now," Justice Kagan said during a wide-ranging and delightful Aspen Ideas Festival conversation with Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center, on Saturday. "And then he um, at the end of last year we had been bird shooting four or five times. I'll tell you how that came to be. But before I do, before I -- he said to me, 'It's time for big game hunting.' And we actually went out to Wyoming this past fall to shoot deer and antelope. Uh, and we did."

"You're getting some hisses from the audience. I hope you were a better shot than Dick Cheney," Rosen interjected as a smattering of hisses emerged from around the room at the mention of hunting in Wyoming.

"I shot myself a deer," Kagan continued. "The way this started, I'll tell the story. You know the NRA has become quite a presence in judicial confirmations, and that means when you go around from office to office, from chamber to chamber, I met with about 80 senators individually and quite a lot of them, both Republicans and Democrats, ask you about your views on the Second Amendment. But because you don't say anything about your views on anything, when they ask you well, they'll try to figure out what your views on the Second Amendment are likely to be and they'll say, 'Well, have you ever held a gun? Have you ever gone hunting? Do you know anybody who's gone hunting?' And you know me, Jeff, I grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and this was not something we really did, you know.

"And so I kept on having these conversations where I would say no and no and no and I was -- and finally somebody said to me, one of these sets of these questions, and so I said, 'You know senator,' I said, 'if you were to invite me hunting, I would really love to go.' And this look of total horror passed over his face. You know, 'Has this woman just invited herself hunting with me?' And I thought, I've gone too far, and then I sort of pulled back and I said, 'I didn't really mean to invite myself, but I'll tell you what, if I am lucky enough to be confirmed, I will ask Justice Scalia to take me hunting.'

"And I went to Justice Scalia when I got onto the court, and I said, 'This is the only promise I made during my entire confirmation proceedings, so you have to help me fulfill it.' And he thought it was hilarious. He thought it was a total crackup. And so, there you go."

The two plan to go duck hunting in the future.

[ShaneEnochs]

Kagan is an interesting justice in that she had no experience as a judge. She seems to be fairly moderate, and not particularly biased in one direction or the other even though many Republican Senators at the time argued that she was too liberal.

[fedupinmo]

Kagan is an interesting justice in that she had no experience as a judge. She seems to be fairly moderate, and not particularly biased in one direction or the other even though many Republican Senators at the time argued that she was too liberal.


Cheerleader for Ocare, failed to recuse herself in the Ocare ruling... I've seen enough.

[angelatc]

Cheerleader for Ocare, failed to recuse herself in the Ocare ruling... I've seen enough.

Right. I totally believe that the ultra conservative Scalia requested a bull dyke who had never sat on the bench. Seems totally legit.

[RonPaulMall]

Supreme Court is an elite institution and its members are keen on keeping it that way no matter the ideology. It has long been reported that Ginsburg was enraged by the Sontomayor appointment and part of the reason she refused to retire under Obama was the fear he might replace her with such an intellectual lightweight.

[sparebulb]

Concerning the OP,

It sounds to me to be a dry, sarcastic wit which might wish for Kagan to be nominated.

Or maybe he was not who he was made out to be.

[PaleoPaul]

Well, he knew a Democratic President, especially a progressive ideologue like Obama, wasn't going to appoint an originalist. So, he decided to tell Obama to appoint the "best" liberal he knew.

[enhanced_deficit]

All the good ones are taken from us quickly.

[angelatc]

Well, he knew a Democratic President, especially a progressive ideologue like Obama, wasn't going to appoint an originalist. So, he decided to tell Obama to appoint the "best" liberal he knew.

Glenn Greenwald for SCOTUS!