U.S. Supreme Court

What Kagan did write

Sheila Liaugminas | 14 May 2010

Most jurists leave a paper trail for interrogators to examine in the confirmation process when judges are nominated for advancement. We found out quickly this week that Elaine Kagan, nominated for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, had neither a judicial background nor a paper ‘trail’. But what little she wrote does provide a paperweight for senators preparing for the confirmation hearings.

Judging from the spin

Sheila Liaugminas | 12 May 2010

I’ve been a Court watcher for years. I’ve done a lot of legal coverage, and have been tempted to go for a law degree. An opening on the Supreme Court always provides compelling opportunities to deliberate over the Constitution and original intent. If only politicians and media seized them…

Until Kagan is confirmed

Sheila Liaugminas | 12 May 2010

Senators will soon be involved in the confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. It’s a lifetime appointment. Time to ask some good questions...

Holding court

Sheila Liaugminas | 13 April 2010

The United States Supreme Court has changed a lot over the decades, but here are two major turning points in modern history: Justice Harry Blackmun writing into the Constitution a right to privacy that somehow subsumes a right to terminate life in a mother’s womb; and the shameful confirmation hearings of Judge Robert Bork that turned into a defamation of a fine judge’s work and good man’s reputation. And created the new lexicon of the political process by which we all know what it means ‘to Bork’ a candidate….