The Senate Judiciary Committee's top Republican, Arlen Specter, has rehashed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's 1993 confirmation with a written question to Solicitor General nominee Elena Kagan.
Specter said Ginsburg had written prior to her confirmation that "the age of consent for women should be 12, that prisons should house men and women together in order to have gender equality, that Mother's and Father's Day should be abolished because they stereotype men and women, and that there is a constitutional right to prostitution."
Then Specter pivoted to a 1995 book review in which Kagan called Ginsburg a "moderate," and asked Kagan whether she thought those are moderate positions. Specter also wanted to know whether Kagan agreed with Ginsburg's purported view that there should be federal funding for abortions, and whether Ginsburg has built a "moderate" record on the high court.
Kagan smoothly parried each of Specter's questions in turn. She said she described Ginsburg as "moderate" based on her record as a D.C. Circuit judge. As for the various gender equality positions Specter outlined, Kagan wrote, "I do not recall (or perhaps never knew) what Justice Ginsburg said about the issues you cite, but as these positions are presented here, I do not agree with them and would not characterize them as moderate."
Kagan wrote that the idea there is a federal constitutional right to abortion funding "has been decisively rejected" by the Supreme Court. As for Specter's most loaded question of all, about Ginsburg's tenure on the high court, Kagan reminded Specter that, if confirmed, she would soon be arguing cases before Ginsburg, adding "I hope you will let me decline to characterize Justice Ginsburg's record on the court."
The committee posted Kagan's responses to Specter and several other committee members on its Web site.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, has scheduled a vote on Kagan's nomination for Feb. 26. Don't be surprised if Specter, either on his own behalf or for another committee Republican, exercises the right to postpone that vote for a week. But the committee is likely to approve her by next week at the latest, and the full Senate is likely to confirm her shortly thereafter.
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Comments
Despite the appalling question by Republican Senator Specter, count me as one who considers Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's written pre-confirmation positions on issues selected by Specter as moderate. While having no great interest in the first three, I would hope that we'd someday have a Supreme Court that would recognize the right to engage in prostitution (or the sale of sex to another consenting adult) as constitutional. Unless there is some bottled formula, none of us would be here if it weren't for the existence and practice of sex. So what if some consenting adults buy and/or sell it? If Specter wants to pander to the puritans and hypocrites, he can do so. But he's not winning any points or contributions from me for so doing. It's disappointing (but understandable, considering the power that puritans and hypocrites still have in this country) that Kagan feels constrained to go along with his game.
Posted by: Ken Stevens
| February 24, 2009 6:51 AM
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