Patterico's Pontifications

5/24/2010

Elena Kagan’s “Judicial Hero”

Filed under: Judiciary,Obama — DRJ @ 10:42 am



[Guest post by DRJ]

Elena Kagan considers Israeli supreme court justice Aharon Barak her “judicial hero” and that worries Paul Mirengoff at PowerLine:

“According to Kagan, Barak “is the judge who has best advanced democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and justice.”

However, it would appear that Kagan’s judicial hero actually has very little regard for the rule of law and, indeed, is the antithesis of what a judge should be. That, at least, has been my understanding of Barak. It is also the view of Judge Richard Posner, and he makes a compelling case:

“[A]lthough he is familiar with the American legal system and supposes himself to be in some sort of sync with liberal American judges, he actually inhabits a completely different–and,to an American, a weirdly different–juristic universe. I have my differences with Robert Bork, but when he remarked, in a review of [Barak’s book] The Judge in a Democracy, that Barak “establishes a world record for judicial hubris,” he came very near the truth.”

Details from Posner and Mirengoff are at the link.

— DRJ

6 Responses to “Elena Kagan’s “Judicial Hero””

  1. it seems appropriate that the pick of an unAmerican president would be a person who’s hero is someone other than an American justice….

    too bad there weren’t any great predecessors for her to choose from, so that she had to look outside our traditions and culture.

    /skank

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  2. She will reinforce Kennedy’s appreciation for “foreign jurisprudence”, unfortunately.

    AD - RtR/OS! (21733c)

  3. You were supposing that Elena would list any conservative republican as her hero? No way. Israel’s judiciary is way past judicial activism and acts antithetically to its national security and survival. Those are probably the values that Obama and Kagan also value.
    I also read that the Republicans will not go quietly in the night if the democraps don’t release all of her writings from the Clinton years. Good news.

    eaglewingz08 (1e4d33)

  4. Where do the Dummycrats drudge up their nominees anyway? Their women always look like some sort of militant lesbian chewbacca.

    JoeBean (6aeb80)

  5. And just what do you have against Wookies?

    AD - RtR/OS! (21733c)

  6. That is a whole HELL of a lotta muff to go diving in!

    Icy Texan (380c78)


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