Over on Pileus Stanford law professor–and new blogger–Marcus Cole provides his measured take on Elena Kagan’s nomination. You should read the whole thing, but here is his bottom line:
What does distinguish Kagan, however, is her track record as Dean at Harvard Law School, particularly with respect to the recruitment of conservative faculty. Contrary to popular understanding, law school deans do not hire faculty; law school faculties do. Nevertheless, few law school deans could (or would) boast of surpassing her efforts to introduce a sprinkling of conservative or libertarian scholars to the monolith of the left that is elite legal education. Some conservatives have argued that Kagan should not get credit for her efforts, since Jack Goldsmith, Adrian Vermuele, and John Manning could be hired anywhere. It is true that they should be hired anywhere, but is it really true that they would be?
I do not mean to imply that simply listening to an argument or two from the right qualifies one for the Supreme Court. It does, I think, distinguish General Kagan from many in the legal academy. It also suggests a measure of basic decency and a genuine interest in intellectual exchange that is becoming increasingly scarce. Would Kagan be the choice of a conservative or libertarian president? Of course not. The President is not likely to mimic the preferences of a conservative or libertarian. He is, however, a politician, and (in the wistful revisionist recollections of some at the University of Chicago) a legal academic. It is understandable that the President would admire someone evincing the qualities of both, and in this way, Elena Kagan permits him to replicate himself. Were the President to choose another from the legal academy, we could do far, far worse.
Examples? Don’t ask; I won’t tell.
Click for the rest of Kagan Could Be Much Worse. FWIW, based on my own experiences with her, “basic decency and a genuine interest in intellectual exchange” sounds right to me.
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