Justice Kagan Will Not Be Our Friend

Elena Kagan is an establishment conservative, devoted to protecting the status quo. Appointed in the '70s, or even early '80s, she would have upheld the liberal consensus which then held sway on the Supreme Court and the nation. But the consensus today on the court and in the country, thanks to Barack Obama's constant deference to the conservatives priorities of the wealthy, is fiercely on the side of the rich, powerful, corporate and conservative.

She's going to be Johnny's, Sammy's, Nino's and Clarence's new BFF.

Paul Campos explains, in a long but well-reported piece that is well worth your time.

He concludes:

The relative ease with which Elena Kagan is being confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court illustrates the extent to which Establishment America believes that a member of the club in good standing – someone who has gone to the right schools, and gotten the right kinds of jobs, and befriended the right sorts of people – can be counted on to do the right thing, even though her own legal and political views remain largely unknown. Naturally, from the establishment’s perspective, the right thing is to do nothing that might seriously disturb any of the social arrangements that continue to serve its interests so well. And in the end, Obama’s faith in Kagan is most likely based on a well-warranted belief that, as a Supreme Court justice, she will prove to be as acceptable to that establishment as Obama himself.