Senate Confirms Elena Kagan To Supreme Court

The Senate today voted 63–37 to confirm Elena Kagan as the newest Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, replacing Justice John Paul Stevens, who retired this summer.

Five Republicans broke with their colleagues to support Kagan. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, and Richard Lugar of Indiana all voted in favor of Kagan.

Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska was the only Democratic senator to vote against Kagan.

Last year the Senate confirmed President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, by a 68–31 vote.

In debate before the vote, Republican senators argued against Kagan’s confirmation, saying that she had political but not judicial experience. They also criticized her treatment of military recruiters as Dean of Harvard Law School and expressed concern with how she would rule on gun-rights and abortion cases.

Kagan should be sworn in in time for the Supreme Court’s first case of the 2010 term on October 4.

Senate Starts Debate Over Kagan Confirmation

The Senate began the debate over Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s confirmation Tuesday.

While Kagan will almost surely be approved by the upper-chamber, she has faced some heated last minute opposition. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced last week that he will go against his party by voting against the current Solicitor General and on Monday Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to each of his colleagues outlining the case against her confirmation.

“Ms. Kagan’s lack of legal experience should be of significant concern to any Senator. She has less real legal experience than any Supreme Court nominee in 50 years,” Sessions wrote.

The Alabama Republican also cited Kagan’s positions on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and reproductive issues as evidence that Kagan is a “legal progressive.”

Several Republicans have announced that they will cross the aisle to support Kagan, including Olympia Snowe (R-Me.), Susan Collins (R-Me.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.).

A vote is expected by the end of the week, before the Senate leaves for the August recess.

New Report Predicts Dismal Job Growth

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said Tuesday that a new report put out by the Center for Economic and Policy Research signals the need for Congress to pass a bill he co-authored aimed at boosting the labor market.

“When I go back to my state and talk to folks, I see a lot of people really hurting and I see a lot of people who are out of work. We need this bill.”

Franken and Rep. Keith Ellison, each co-sponsors of the Senate and House versions of the Local Jobs for America Act, believe the report’s dim forecast for job growth greatly underscores the need for legislation.

The report, entitled, “The Urgent Need for Job Creation,” shows that the U.S. economy as a whole will not recoup all of the jobs lost since the start of the recession until March of 2014. Additionally, the report highlights the fact that, assuming the trend rate of growth in the labor force, the nation’s unemployment rate will not return to pre-recession levels until April 2021.

Senate Advances Unemployment Benefits Extension

By Brandon Kosters - Talk Radio News Service

With a vote of 60-40, the Senate has ended a filibuster on a measure that will offer $34 billion in benefits to out-of-work Americans. The only two Republicans who voted to advance the measure were Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

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.