. . . hard to read
Some consider the nomination of Elena Kagan to fill the Supreme Court seat of Justice John Paul Stevens a "safe" decision. With considerable academic and government experience, the current Solicitor General brings an intelligence and experience in the real world that Pres. Obama included in his priorities for the next nomination. Let's hope that the real world includes the barriers faced by people needing treatment and service for mental health and addiction disorders.
It is likely that opponents will explore her liberal sympathies, early expressed in The Princetonian after the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Already she has been criticized by the Right for her opposition to military recruiting at Harvard's Law School campus because of the "don't ask don't tell" policy. Let's hope that if confirmed she applies similar impatience when it comes to ending discrimination (both de jure and de facto) around the rights of people with disabilities. Too often, and despite legal protections, their rights have been trampled.
On the short list of candidates was Dean Martha Minow, with many of Kagan's attributes: Minow is currently dean of the Harvard law school dean, and also clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall. Minow's background in disability issues is more extensive and before clerking for Marshall, she clerked for Judge David Bazelon, United States Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, for whom the Bazelon Center is named. The closeness to Kagan probably discounts a later nomination.
The response to her nomination has been cautious in part due to a scant paper trail that reveals how she might resolve conflicts likely to arrive on her watch. The Bazelon Center's Robert Bernstein sent an early message saying he appreciated her "demonstrated ability to bring together people from all sides of the political spectrum to reach consensus on the challenges we face." He said he looked forward to learning more about her "views on disability rights."
Kagan's bio is available at the Alliance for Justice.
