I don’t know if you are following the confirmation hearings, but Kagan seems to be doing a good job of slyly pointing out the hypocrisy of her interrogators.
When Republican Senator Tom Coburn ask what she would do if Congress pass a law requiring Americans “to eat three vegetables and three fruits every day”, Kagan pointed out that legislation is the job of our elected representatives (like Coburn himself) and that the Supreme Court shouldn’t strike down laws just because they are dumb. She repeatedly said that the Supreme Court should show “great deference to Congress” since the constitution makes it their job to legislate. But although conservatives frequently decry “activist judges” they didn’t seem to like her answer. As the NY Times put it, “They appeared to want the Supreme Court to save them from themselves.”
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Gawd, I am so tired of these fat Republican morons acting like they aren’t “activists” themselves. Goddamnit, isn’t it obvious by now that our culture and upbringing define how we see the world and how it “should” be? How the fuck is anyone supposed to be on the Supreme Court without bringing that into their decision processes? Do the Republicans want to hire a robot for the job? Good God, what worthless people.
No answer she gives will be the right one. Not in their eyes.
Kagan’s point is that Congress is supposed to be activist. That is their constitutional role. They are the ones who make the laws.
What we should be all frustrated about is that too many of them do not take that role seriously. The statute at issue in the dogfighting case is the perfect case in point. The legislative goal and even the means used were not stupid. But the law was so sloppily put together that it could not be defended.
Too many members of both houses of Congress are not taking their constitutional responsibilities seriously. And too many voters keep electing the same or the same kinds of people.