Marjorie Cohn: Diminishing Supreme Court Justice

[laststeamtrain]

consortiumnews.com

Diminishing Supreme Court Justice

By Marjorie Cohn
May 10, 2010

Editor’s Note: President Barack Obama’s apparent Supreme Court choice of Elena Kagan reinforces the political cynicism of Washington, where it’s understood that only a fool goes against the grain on behalf of justice and that the best way to get ahead is to never get on the wrong side of the Right.

Solicitor General Kagan, a former Harvard Law School dean, never made the career-fatal mistake of objecting too loudly to President George W. Bush’s “war on terror” trampling of the U.S. Constitution and indeed has often parroted those views, as law professor Marjorie Cohn notes in this guest essay:

<snip>

If Obama wants to choose a non-judge, he could pick Harold Hongju Koh or Erwin Chemerinsky, both brilliant and courageous legal scholars who champion human rights and civil rights over corporate and executive power.

<snip>

Conservatives decry activist judges – primarily those who act contrary to conservative politics. But the Constitution is a short document and it is up to judges to interpret it.

Obama has defensively bought into the right-wing rhetoric, saying recently that during the 1960's and 1970's, "liberals were guilty" of the "error" of being activist judges. Rather than celebrating the historic achievements of the Warren Court – and of Justice Stevens – Obama is once again cowering in the face of conservative opposition.

Obama should do the right thing, the courageous thing, and fill Justice Stevens' seat with someone who can fill his shoes. If he nominates Elena Kagan, Obama will move the delicately balanced court to the Right. And that would be the wrong thing.

<more>

http://consortiumnews.com/2010/051010b.html

Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and immediate past president of the National Lawyers Guild. She is the author of Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law. See www.marjoriecohn.com

[intheflow]

1. kick n/t