***SCOTUS Final Four according to Tuesday's NY Times***

[BluegrassDem]

"The president has narrowed his list to four, according to people close to the White House — two federal appeals judges, Sonia Sotomayor of New York and Diane P. Wood of Chicago, and two members of his administration, Solicitor General Elena Kagan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano."

http://thepage.time.com/final-four/

:popcorn:

[flyarm]

1. Wood v. Kagan on Executive Power By: emptywheel

Wood v. Kagan on Executive Power By: emptywheel
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/05/25/wood-v-kag... /

Wood v. Kagan on Executive Power
By: emptywheel Monday May 25, 2009 6:48 am

But in a 2003 essay, warned that steps proposed in the fight against terrorism, like diminishing privacy to facilitate executive surveillance, posed a threat to the rule of law.

“In a democracy, those responsible for national security (principally, of course, the executive branch) must do more than say ‘trust us, we know best’ when they are proposing significant intrusions on liberties protected by the Constitution,” she wrote.

And in a lecture about legal issues related to natural disasters, published in 2008, Judge Wood suggested that she would view trying terrorism suspects in military commissions, as Mr. Obama has proposed, with suspicion.



Ms. Kagan’s history, by contrast, suggests a greater sympathy for executive interests.



Later, in her solicitor general confirmation hearing, Ms. Kagan said the president had the authority to indefinitely detain, without a trial, someone suspected of helping to finance Al Qaeda.

She also said that she, like any solicitor general, would not defend a statute that “infringes directly on the powers of the president,” because “there are occasional times where presidential power still exists, even if Congress says otherwise.” But, she added, that category was “exceedingly narrow.”

There's more there, so click through to read the whole thing. This is one of the most useful articles I've read on the whole SCOTUS search, because it really does point to an area where even moderate Democrats like Kagan could have a devastating effect on our Constitution going forward. Obama has already proven a little too fond of executive power for my taste. Let's hope he doesn't institutionalize that with his choice for SCOTUS.

[Thrill]

2. Not sure I buy that. But I;ve always thought Kagan would be the pick

Simply because she had already been vetted, smart, and really young. And she has the real world experience he talks about, as well as being good on all the issues.

[quantass]

3. Very Exciting

looking forward to this