The Senate Judiciary Committee continues to question Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Is her confirmation hearing an exercise in “vacuity and farce”? Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl cited an often referenced article Kagan wrote more than a decade ago. “You said back then, when the Senate ceases to engage nominees in meaningful discussions of legal issues, the confirmation takes on an air of vacuity and farce.” Kagan conceded she may have “gotten a bit of the balance off” in that article.
And then there was Senator Russ Feingold, pressing Kagan on what might called her “Midwest empathy.” The Wisconsin Democrat wanted to know how Kagan “will strive to understand the effects of the Supreme Court’s decisions on the millions of Americans who don’t live on the East Coast, or in our biggest cities?” Kagan’s response “does it count that I lived in Chicago for some period?” “It helps, getting closer,” said Feingold. The Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings for Kagan are expected to last the remainder of the week.