OPINION:
I am disappointed to learn that some United States Senate Republicans are planning an active fight against the confirmation of associate justice of the Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan (“The case against Kagan,” editorials, June 25).
Although she has no judicial experience, it is clear that former Solicitor General Kagan is a highly intelligent, educated, articulate and experienced attorney. There is no reason to believe that she is an extremist nor that there is any legitimate reason to bar her from service.
One cannot state often enough that presidential elections have consequences. One of them is that the president generally has the ability to select judicial appointees of his choosing with the “advice and consent” of the Senate, not the slashing and burning of the nomination. The fact that President Obama is now justifiably unpopular and unlikely to be re-elected does not enter into the equation.
There is plenty of ammunition that the GOP may use against this president, most notably his unconscionable and unsustainable run-up of the national debt and entitlement expectations. Fighting the nomination of Ms. Kagan tooth and nail, however, can at this point be declared a fool’s errand.
If the GOP plans to forge ahead with a divisive, rancorous Supreme Court confirmation process, it does so at its own risk and peril, and shall surely be exposed as seeking political advantage at all costs.
OREN SPIEGLER
Upper St. Clair, Pa.
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