I'm embarrassed by my own Sen. Cornyn's 'no' vote. Harriet Miers would be terrific, he thought, but not Elena Kagan or Sonia Sotomayor? In Texas, Cornyn is defying the White House because he wants to himself name our 4 US Attorneys, which is why we don't have any yet. It's one thing to oppose an occasional Bork, another to become routinely obstructionist toward a sitting president, like him or not, which is where Mr. Cornyn seems to be at these days.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Cornyn votes 'no' on Kagan
The Senate Judiciary Committee today voted to approve the US Supreme Court nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, but Texas Senator John Cornyn voted against her. Learning of the vote at Sentencing Law & Policy, I left this disappointed comment:
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19 comments:
Cornyn is an odd bird, just when I think he seems reasonable he does something like this.
Buck up, Grits. In the pre-bork world it could be expected to give the President his choice; post-Bork, it is politically de rigueur on both the left and right to reject candidates for ideological reasons. If Roberts and Alito were stealth candidates from the right, so too are Sotomayor and Kagan from the left. Despite their carefully worded responses in hearings, no one, right or left,expects them to decide cases from other than a hard left worldview.
Cheer up--besides, Obama should get another shot or two at the process before he's done.
Roberts and Alito were stealth? Buuuulllllshiiiiiiit. We all knew what they'd be like.
Rage
I'm with the other Anonymous. But more to the point, Cornyn's just being obstructionist. I'm not surprised at all he voted against her.
Cornyn is a foolish wannbe sly fox and publicity whore. He came to my law school class and made it easy for us to understand his opposition to single moms at a time when Vice President Quayle made pathetic comments about Murphy Brown and single moms. This was during a legal writing class and he had gone to law school with our Professor. One student who had been an Olympic level athlete reminded him that his mom was a single mom and he turned out just fine. He was actually making comments relating to a pending case even though he claimed he was not. It will be interesting to see what he thinks about gambling in the next Texas legislative session as many may remember when he led the effort to shut down the Tigua tribe casino in Texas when Cornyn was Attorney General. Last session old school Rebpublicans and new ones like Tilman Fertita supported funding a study to report on the efficacy of gambling in Texas. That study will probably say gambling is a pretty good idea. This makes sense as the odds are better than the lottery, bingo and horse racing. This is all a perfect example of Cornyn's pandering without a true long term view. Especially considering his narrow view of the law at the time to pander to Church concerns. As for Kagain, just because someone writes a paper on Socialism doesn't make them a socialist. However, the pandering opposition to Kagan ran with these sound bites and ignored the real concerns liberals were having about Kagan as well. Cornyn is really just as much of thug as Delay but he seems to hide it better than Delay. He's really just a wanna be sly fox. Remember those cheesy campaign ads where he wanted you to believe that he was not part of Washington politics and just a good ole boy. Stay tuned for more of this from Cornyn in the fall elections. Listen to how he votes and who he supports. Eventually his mouth will spew something that will just show him to be a wanna be sly fox and not a real one.
Why am I not surprised that you're a Kagan supporter, Grits? And there's some question in your mind as to whether you are a "liberal?" Please!
10:10, I'd never heard of Kagan before she became SG and have no stakes in her either way. I just think the President basically gets to appoint who they want unless they're unqualified, and Kagan and Sotomayor, like Alito and Roberts, had all the necessary credentials and more. Don't like the outcome? Go win an election. That's how it works in America.
What I said the other day about the terms liberal and conservative having become meaningless goes TRIPLE for evaluating judges. Most of the ignorant rhetoric spouted on the subject is frankly pure-D horseshit that's almost completely divorced from reality - just repeating blindly all the same stereotypes no matter who is the nominee.
Y'all who think SCOTUS is some rigged game where all the justices' views are pre-determined have let your cynicism overtake your good sense and powers of observation. That may be true in a minority of cases, but history tells us justices' views evolve over the course of their lifetime appointments, and it's both hubris and folly to claim to know where any of them will be 10-15 years from now.
As a general rule, the older they get the more they lean to the left. See, e.g, O'Connor, Kennedy, Stevens, Blackmun, etc. If you're looking for a judge who will legislate liberal views from the bench, uphold abortion rights (which is addressed nowhere in the Constitution), be pro-Affirmative Action, anti-death penalty, consider the views of foreign countries in interpreting American Constitutional jurisprudence, likely find that there is a constitutional right for gays to marry (or at least require states that don't recognize gay marriages to give "full faith and credit" to gay marriages in states where it's approved) and uphold the power of the federal goverment to force us to spend our own hard earned money to buy health insurance whether we want to or not; then Elina Kagan is probably your girl. Anyone willing to bet otherwise is either extremely naive, uninformed or a complete fool.
Like I said, 10:42, if you don't like it, win an election.
If this were just about Kagan it'd be one thing, but Texas may go Obama's full term without any US Attorneys appointed because Cornyn has decided to play obstructionist on every possible front and insist on naming them himself.
At some point, the partisan hackery needs to die down long enough for them to competently run the government. Just reflexively opposing everything and everybody is BS.
Dang, Grits... I need your help. I've been looking back through your blog trying to find your comments in opposition to the Democrat fillibusters of appellate court nominees Miguel Estrada, Pricilla Owen and Bill Pryor and I can't find anything. Didn't they drag their feet on Estrada so long that he finally withdrew his name from consideration? Personally, I voted for Bush--Oh, what's that you say? Bush won the election? I guess that means the Dems should have all lined up in support of his judicial nominations like you're suggesting that Cornyn should do for Kagan. Here again, another example of liberal hypocricy. This crap all started back when the Democrats derailed Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork--remember him? He was elected president too. Evidently it's quite alright for Democrats to thwart a Republican president's appointment because they are deemed "out of the mainstream." But heaven forbid the Republicans give you liberals a dose of your own medicine.
Grits is right, whether you like it or not, Obama can pick whomever he wants and the real job of the senate is to make sure the appointee is qualified. Period. As for Cornyn...just weird!
11:42, if you're so critical of that behavior among Democrats, don't replicate it. Why would you emulate behavior you clearly despise?
When Texans continue to elect Senators like Cornyn to represent them in Federal and State level posts, you get what you get. His seat will be up for re-election soon, as will the Governor, and others. IF you want change, use your power at the polls, otherwise, you get what you get! Remember George Bush? Both of them!
John Cornyn is a royal ass. A fact I remind of in a weekly email to his office. Funny, I never get a reply.
Eh, Cornyn is what every other politician is at heart: a jackass. Left or Right, they're ALL jackasses. Mind you, I can't think of anything good to say about Kagan either.
I believe it was Rove who brought Cornyn in. I'll be glad to see this era of Us vs. Them pass.
Rev. Fred Williams: People got to do more than go to the polls these days.
Just like Obama, Kagan is unqualified.I thought he was supposed to appoint his buddy Blago.
I sent him an email asking he not vote for Kagan cause I feel she's not for the US Constitution because of things I read and he voted no which makes me feel good.
So what did you read that made you think she's "not for the US Constitution"?
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