Graham Criticizes Senate Confirmation Process In Announcement Of Support For Kagan

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted today to approve Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The approval was widely expected; only Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) broke with his Republican colleagues to vote for Kagan. All the Democrats on the committee voted in favor of Kagan’s nomination.

Senator Graham chastised the other committee members and the Senate as a whole for the politicization of the nomination process, noting that only 21 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Congress. Graham said that the Senate has a role in protecting the independence of the the Judicial Branch, since the Supreme Court does not have a “political voice.”

Graham read a portion of a letter Kagan had written in favor of Miguel Estrada, whose 2001 nomination to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals had been filibustered by Senate Democrats. Estrada, a conservative, had written a letter in support of Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court, and during Kagan’s confirmation hearings earlier this month Graham asked Kagan if she would write a letter in support of Estrada. Graham said that he was not sure if the cross-ideological support meant something, “but it makes me feel better.”

Graham said that criticism by senators of specific Supreme Court decisions was the cause of the increased politicization of the nomination process and therefore the cause of the increased politicization of Supreme Court decisions. “Are we living in an age of legislative activism?,” Graham asked, before repeating that “elections have consequences” and announcing his support for Kagan’s confirmation.

Kagan’s nomination will go to the Senate floor where it is expected to be approved, likely next week.