A particularly insidious dog whistle to the right has cropped up in the Elana Kagan confirmation hearings. Suddenly the most popular topic for discussion is Thurgood Marshall, the late Supreme Court Justice for whom Kagan clerked for one year and with whom she disagreed quite a bit during that clerkship. Marshall dominated yesterday’s opening statements, [...]

Patrick Leahy gives the news: At a hearing Wednesday morning, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced that proceedings to consider the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court will begin on June 28. “This is a reasonable schedule that is in line with past [...]

The Supreme Court, in two opinions today, ruled alternately that child convicts who haven’t murdered cannot face life sentences, and that sex offenders deemed “sexually dangerous” could be held in prison beyond their sentencing terms. In the first: By a 5-4 vote Monday, the court says the Constitution requires that young people serving life sentences [...]

I mentioned earlier that Arlen Specter faced a Hobson’s choice with the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Previously he’s had no problem shifting practically all of his views to the left side of the spectrum to accommodate his party switch. Two things with respect to the Kagan pick make that difficult: 1) [...]