SCOTUS Watch: Kagan-Is-Boring Edition

We’re about three weeks away from Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings, and though some right-wing groups and Republican senators continue to throw barbs, she remains largely unscathed. There’s not a single “wise Latina” moment to report, and some observers are even deeming Kagan a snoozefest.

The New York Times, noting that a real fight over Kagan’s nomination has yet to materialize, dubs her “a kind of Teflon nominee.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean Republicans aren’t still looking for potential bombshells. Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is still digging into Kagan’s ban on military recruiters while she was dean of Harvard Law School. The Republican lawmaker wants the Department of Defense to turn over by June 11 all records relating to recruiting efforts at Harvard Law during Kagan’s tenure.  

Sessions has also been leading the call for the release of Kagan’s Clinton-era paper trail, and he could get his wish as early as today.  

A 1995 book review by Kagan that includes biting criticism of the confirmation process for high-court nominees could cause some awkward moments during her hearings.

Though it looks as though Kagan is destined for the Supreme Court, she apparently wasn’t cut out for the University of Chicago Law School.

And according to this rather disheartening poll , even if Kagan becomes our next Supreme Court justice, very few Americans will know who she is.

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Marisa M. Kashino

Senior Editor

Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 as a staff writer, and became a senior editor in 2014. She oversees the magazine’s real estate and home design coverage, and writes long-form feature stories. She was a 2020 Livingston Award finalist for her two-part investigation into a wrongful conviction stemming from a murder in rural Virginia.