Tag Archives: Court: U.S. Supreme

Washington Times: “[I]t wasn’t a total shocker that the 13-6 tally included a yes vote by a lone Republican – Sen. Lindsey Graham, who on occasion has reached across the partisan aisle to work with the majority. But what wasn’t expected was the South Carolina lawmaker’s unusually blunt explanation for his vote, saying he was obligated to support a ‘qualified’ Obama administration nominee because ‘the last election had consequences.’”

Sen. Graham: “The question I have for the body: Are we living in an age of legislative activism where the words haven’t changed in the last 200 years, but certainly the voting patterns are?”

“‘The court is talking about gay people, not homosexuals, and about people who have a social identity rather than a class of people who engage in particular sex acts,’ Professor Goldberg said.”

The Cloakroom: “With his nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, President Obama once again fulfilled his threat to nominate judges who would decide cases on the basis of emotions and personal politics rather than fidelity to the original meaning of the Constitution. Kagan has no judicial experience, less relevant legal experience than any nominee in memory, and an extreme background of political activism that raises serious doubts about her ability to put the law ahead of a political agenda . . . ”

Peter Hegseth writes at the Wall Street Journal access via Google: “Her intellectually dishonest opposition to our armed forces during a time of war shows bad judgement. She doesn’t belong on the Supreme Court.”

The Volokh Conspiracy: “A reader points out that Justice Thomas has at least three former clerks who are now Justices on state Supreme Courts: Justice Eid in Colorado, Justice Stras in Minnesota, and now Justice Lee in Utah. And Justice Thomas is of course the U.S. Supreme Court Justice who has the broadest view of the structural constitutional restraints on federal power (ones that leave states to regulate or not regulate, free of federal interference). Coincidence? Or is it just that he and I don’t know about other Justices who have had this many clerks on state supreme courts?”

Sen. Tom Coburn writing at National Review Online: “The Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan provided key exchanges about the Commerce Clause, natural rights, and other issues that have convinced me to vote against her nomination. Based on her own testimony, she’ll violate her oath as soon as she’s sworn in. … In her testimony, it was clear that Kagan subscribes to the progressive view that the wrongly decided precedents of the Supreme Court are more important the clear intent of the Constitution”

SCOTUSblog: “The Supreme Court on Monday released the calendar for oral arguments for the opening session of the 2010 Term, starting on Monday, Oct. 4. The Court will hold afternoon arguments on two of the five argument days in that sitting. The morning sessions run from 10 a.m. to noon; the afternoon sessions begin at 1 p.m. … Wednesday, Oct. 6: Snyder v. Phelps (09-751) — constitutional protection against political protests at soldier’s private funeral.”

Federalist Society SCOTUScast: “On June 24, 2010, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Doe v. Reed. In this case, the Court was asked whether compelled disclosure of signatory information on a referendum petition violated the First Amendment. … To discuss the case, we have the Capital University Law School Josiah H. Blackmore II and Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law Bradley A. Smith.”

Associated Press: “The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting Tuesday to take up Kagan’s nomination after a week’s delay at the request of Republican lawmakers. Democrats hold a 12-7 advantage on the committee.” | Senate Judiciary Committee

“The committee voted 13-6 with all of the pro-abortion Democrats supporting Kagan’s confirmation and all Republicans opposing her, except pro-life Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.”

LifeNews: “Media Matters suggests that no discrepancies exist between Elena Kagan’s involvement with the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists’ (ACOG) statement on ‘partial-birth abortion’ during her time in the Clinton White House and Kagan’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. The following addresses Media Matters’ claims and points out Kagan’s misrepresentation of her involvement in this debate and the need for further investigation into Kagan’s involvement with ACOG and its ‘medical’ opinion.”

Washington Times editorial: “It’s troubling that Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, is openly considering a favorable vote on the Supreme Court nomination of U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan. The nominee has acted contrary to several matters particularly close to the senator’s core values.”

CNN: “Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said Tuesday he will support Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination. Graham is the only GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee so far to indicate he will vote for Kagan.”

LifeNews: “Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, sent a letter to senators this morning urging them, on behalf of 280,000 women who are members of the organization, to vote no. … ‘The recent revelation of her influence in the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologist’s (ACOG) statement on the medical necessity for partial birth abortion in 1996, arouses deep concern over her objectivity in weighing factual information concerning abortion,’ Dannenfelser said.”

WNCT (AP): “Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel [Nate Kellum] says the small group from a Christian school in Arizona had bowed their heads and begun praying for the justices when police stopped them.”

CNSNews: “According to attorneys from ADF, Supreme Court police forced teacher Maureen Rigo from the building steps and told her the act of bowing her head and praying on the Supreme Court steps was unlawful. … [Kellum] said when Rigo contacted the Supreme Court Police headquarters, a Supreme Court Police sergeant — whose identity he did not disclose — confirmed the policy. The sergeant, Kellum said, asked Rigo if her group contained more than three persons, and if they bowed their heads. Rigo answered ‘Yes’ to both questions.”

Catholic News Agency: “‘Christians shouldn’t be silenced for exercising their beliefs through quiet prayer on public property,’ commented [Nate Kellum], Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) senior counsel. ‘The last place you’d expect this kind of obvious disregard for the First Amendment would be on the grounds of the U.S. Supreme Court itself, but that’s what happened.’”

The New American: “The potential implications of a change from ‘religious freedom’ to ‘freedom of worship’ may have already begun to play out on the very grounds of the U.S. Supreme Court. In May 5, a school teacher of Arizona, Maureen Rigo, traveled with students to the Supreme Court and, according to press reports and a letter of complaint filed with the Court, found that their religious liberties did not extend to prayer on the grounds of the court. … The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) . . . has gotten involved in Rigo’s case, sending a letter to officials of the Supreme Court.”

ADF attorney Greg Baylor appeared on the Hannity Show with Sean Hannity to discuss this: Police say prayer illegal on U.S. Supreme Court grounds. | MP4 4:41 mins | Also available here on YouTube

Frank Gaffney writes at Townhall: “Which is where Elena Kagan’s enabling of the penetration of Shariah into our capital markets through the Harvard Law School’s Islamic Finance project comes in.  The purpose of that project is, according to an excellent essay by Andy McCarthy entitled ‘Elena Kagan’s ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ Shariah Policy’ published last week in National Review Online, ‘to promote Shariah compliance in the U.S. financial sector.’”

Deseret News: “I’m convinced,” he said, “that part of (this job) is that when you consider the consequences of the decisions that we make, it does weigh on you and it does show you that there’s something so important that you’ve got to get it right. It does have an effect on you. “(The Supreme Court) truly is a marble palace (because) we’re isolated. We’re isolated from the politics, we’re isolated from the city and in a lot of ways we’re isolated from the country. These trips allow me to come out and see the people who really matter in our government, and that is you all.”

AP: “Sen. Jeff Sessions says Kagan has placed her politics above the law, lacks experience, and has activist judicial heroes.”

Deseret News: “BYU law professor Thomas R. Lee was sworn in Monday as the Utah Supreme Court’s newest justice. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for whom Lee clerked in the mid-1990s, delivered the oath of office.”

ADF Attorney Nate Kellum appeared on the Don Kroah Show to discuss the situation involving Arizona students prohibited from praying outside SCOTUS. | MP3 7:51 mins

USA Today / On Politics: “Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop is urging a no vote on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan in a letter that will be delivered today to senators who soon will be deciding to confirm her. … In the letter, Koop accuses Kagan of lobbying successfully to change the language of a 1997 statement by American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists on a controversial procedure that critics call ‘partial-birth abortion.’”

LifeSiteNews: “‘Christians shouldn’t be silenced for exercising their beliefs through quiet prayer on public property,’ said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel [Nate Kellum]. ‘The last place you’d expect this kind of obvious disregard for the First Amendment would be on the grounds of the U.S. Supreme Court itself, but that’s what happened.’”

The Christian Institute: “A police officer in America has told a group of teachers and children praying outside the US Supreme Court that they should find somewhere else to go. American organisation the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has warned that the police action breaches constitutional free speech rights. ‘Christians shouldn’t be silenced for exercising their beliefs through quiet prayer on public property’, [Nate Kellum] from ADF said.”

OneNewsNow: “Wickenburg Christian Academy teacher Maureen Rigo of Arizona had taken a group of students to tour the complex, and ADF attorney [Nate Kellum] tells OneNewsNow they had just completed a May 5 visit to the Supreme Court and were on the steps outside. ‘They decided to mark the occasion [and] that they would pray. They just simply circled…bowed their heads and quietly prayed,’ Kellum reports. ‘And yet what happened is they were abruptly stopped [by] a police officer for the Supreme Court building who told them that what they were doing was violating a federal statute and said that they had to take their prayer elsewhere.’”

Gallup: “More Americans want the Senate to vote for rather than against Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court, but the percentage in favor is less than a majority. Support for Kagan’s confirmation remains essentially the same as it was before her June confirmation hearings . . . ”

CBN News: “Each year, there are countless cases around the nation challenging believers and their constitutional rights. … The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, sent a letter to Supreme Court officials July 15, urging them to stop their police from violating people’s constitutionally protected rights.” | Video at link and here.

ADF attorney Greg Baylor will be on Hannity on Fox News Channel tonight, Friday July 16th, live at 9:30 PM Eastern. He will be in studio discussing the situation involving Arizona students prohibited from praying outside SCOTUS.

Linda Greenhouse writes at the NY Times: “But during this past term, Justice Kennedy was in dissent in 5 of the 18 cases decided by five-vote majorities (a figure that amounts to one-quarter of the 73 cases decided with signed opinions, down from 31 percent in the previous term and 40 percent in the term before that.) Three justices to Justice Kennedy’s right, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., all cast fewer dissenting votes in those close cases (three, three and four, respectively) and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was tied with Justice Kennedy at five.”

Bob Ellis writing at Dakota Voice: “Some days (too many days) my heart just aches for how upside-down and off course our nation has become. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) says Maureen Rigo, a Christian private school teacher, went to the U.S. Supreme Court with her students. Outside the building, she and her students went over to one side out of the way and prayed. They soon found that, in front of the building where judges are charged with upholding the U.S. Constitution (including the First Amendment right to free speech and freedom of religious expression), prayer is not allowed. From the ADF release . . . ”

Human Events: “Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, met yesterday with Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life (AUL) to discuss evidence of Supreme Court Elena Kagan’s central role in defeating a ban on partial-birth abortion . . . ”

Christian Post: “A Christian legal firm has threatened U.S. Supreme Court officials with a lawsuit unless they state in writing that people can quietly pray on the court’s grounds. A letter was sent by the Alliance Defense Fund on Thursday on behalf of a Wickenburg, Ariz., teacher who was prohibited by a Supreme Court police officer in May from praying with her students on the steps of the court. ‘There is no reason to silence Mrs. Rigo’s activities since these activities do not attract attention, create a crowd, or give off the appearance of partiality,” ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum argues in the letter. “The ban on private prayers cannot hope to survive First Amendment scrutiny.’”

Fox News: “According to Nate Kellum, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a police officer “abruptly” interrupted the prayer and ordered the group to cease and desist. ‘They were told to stop praying because they were violating the law and they had to take their prayer elsewhere,’ Kellum told FOX News Radio. A spokesperson for the Court said the Marshal of the Court will look into the events alleged by the ADF.”

Liberty Counsel: “The case involving controversial protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers is raising concerns about the future of First Amendment protections for all Americans. Liberty Counsel is concerned about the effects this case could have on First Amendment rights and has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, warning of the potential for serious harm to the First Amendment.”

Spero News: The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to U.S. Supreme Court officials on July 15 that urges them to stop their police officers from prohibiting people from quietly praying outside the court building . . . “Christians shouldn’t be silenced for exercising their beliefs through quiet prayer on public property,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. “The last place you’d expect this kind of obvious disregard for the First Amendment would be on the grounds of the U.S. Supreme Court itself, but that’s what happened.”

“Berwick is the new director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services who has praised British programs that ration care . . . ”

LifeNews: “More members of the Senate are announcing their positions on the nomination of pro-abortion Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme.”

ADF attorneys send letter to Supreme Court officials urging them to allow constitutionally protected prayer outside court building

Mark R. Weaver writes at the NewarkAdvocate.com: “America was founded as a haven for those fleeing government dictates about religion. The First Amendment was crafted as a mighty shield to protect that refuge. So it can only be called ironic that bureaucrats in California, aided by five Supreme Court justices, are wielding that amendment as a mighty sword to undercut the rights of citizens to organize a private campus group according to their beliefs. If Solicitor General Kagan wants to become Justice Kagan, she’d be wise to agree that it’s time to restore some of the balance between the founders’ dual goals of freedom of religion and freedom from religion. The country is already up in arms with the president and the Congress. And when Americans think all three branches of government are untethered from common sense, an uncommon uprising might be in the works.”

Kagan did little to move the nomination hearings from the stylized “farce” (her own word) they have become . . . Kagan did just enough to win my vote by her answers that television would be good for the country and the court, and by identifying Justice Marshall as her role model . . .

LA Times: “In a new ad, the group cites Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s recent vote to uphold a handgun ban. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee delays its nomination vote a week.”

SCOTUS Blog has this coverage yesterday’s ruling in Fox News Television, Inc. v. FCC. It includes a brief summary of the case history. The Blog also posted this analysis of the ruling yesterday.

Political Cortex: “Now that Alabama Senate Republican Jeff Sessions has won a weeklong delay on the final vote to confirm Soliciter General Elena Kagan as a supreme court justice, a right leaning. tea party affiliated organization called Judicial Action Group or Jag, also based in Session’s home state, is reportedly buying up commercial time for a new video ad aimed at swaying three important senate votes to ‘no on Kagan.’ . . . That said, more recently, Jauregu’s JAG has made the opposition of Kagan as a supreme court justice a priority. JAG’s website points visitors to research and analysis by Alliance Defense Fund, American United For Life, Family Research Council and the Aiken Scotus Blog . . .”

LifeNews: “Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan may become one of the more ardent pro-abortion activists on the high court if confirmed, but that may not be enough to stop normally pro-life Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina from supporting her when the Senate Judiciary Committee votes next week.”

LifeNews: “Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan says she will recuse herself from a handful of potential cases that could come before the high court with her on it if the Senate confirms her. However, she has not said she would step down from considering the lawsuit on the pro-abortion health care law President Obama signed.”

Sen. Orring G. Hatch writes at National Review: “After studying Elena Kagan’s record, actively participating in her hearing, and listening to the views of folks in Utah and across the country, I do not believe that she meets the standards we should require of federal judges — especially Supreme Court justices. The first important standard is experience . . . ”

LifeNews: “Republican senators decided today to use the right given under the Senate Judiciary Committee rules that allow any member of the committee to delay a confirmation vote by one week.”

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg declared Thursday that abortions would continue to be available to women regardless of the legal challenges now being waged by opponents of Roe v. Wade.

How Appealing carries this article by Lawrence Hurley that originally at the Daily Journal Newswire: “One of the most distinctive features of the U.S. Supreme Court’s just completed term was the justices’ unusual willingness to intercede at the early stages of controversial cases through their power to stay lower court rulings.”

Scotus Blog: “Today, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan returned answers to written questions for her submitted after her hearing by Republican Senators Coburn, Cornyn, Graham, Grassley, Kyl, and Sessions . . . ”

SCOTUS Blog: “The weekend began with what is expected to be the last set of documents from Elena Kagan before the vote on her confirmation: the Senate Judiciary Committee released her answers to post-hearing questions submitted by six of the seven Republican Senators . . . ”

The Lonestar Weekly via Sen. John Cornyn: “During the hearing, we learned how Ms. Kagan might approach cases as a Justice. Based on her answers at the hearing, it appears that Ms. Kagan believes that there are virtually no meaningful restraints on Congress’s ability to pass laws under its commerce clause power, and that she is unlikely to rein in an already out-of-control federal government. I was also concerned by her comments on the Second Amendment’s guarantee of an individual’s right to keep and bear arms . . . ”

Blog of the Legal Times: “‘I am so glad that Elena is joining us,’ Ginsburg told an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, according to this dispatch from the Aspen Daily News. Ginsburg was introduced by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and engaged in a dialogue with journalist and law professor Jeff Rosen.”

LifeNews: “The Washington Times released an editorial column today on the nomination of pro-abortion activist Elena Kagan to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. The Times says Kagan’s supporting partial-birth abortion (infanticide) should be the “kiss of death” for her nomination.”

Gary Palmer of the Alabama Policy Institute writes: “Activists such as Elena Kagan have an agenda to restrict our natural rights and force us to conform to the dictates of the government. Whether it is gun control, political speech or our right to decide about our own health care, activist federal judges and justices will take these rights from us when they can get a majority of Supreme Court justices who will go along. When Elena Kagan is confirmed, Americans will be just one Supreme Court justice away from losing some fundamental rights. Many voters are paying close attention to the Kagan confirmation process to see if the Republicans will have the will to fight or whether they will be the same party they tossed out of power in the last two elections.”

WOWT: “Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns has announced he will not support the President’s nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a news release, the Nebraska Republican described Kagan’s background as alarming, disturbing and troubling.”

LifeNews: “More senators announced their opposition to pro-abortion Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on Wednesday. The list now includes eight senators who officially oppose Kagan, including Senator John McCain of Arizona who wrote an editorial in USA Today. … Others senators saying they are voting against Kagan include Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia and pro-life Sens. Bob Bennett of Utah, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina. They join senators who have already announced their opposition, including Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Orrin Hatch of Utah.”

USA Today: “Eight Republican senators who voted in favor of President Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee last year are not yet ready to say what they are going to do about the second. A USA TODAY survey of the Senate offices Wednesday found none of Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s Republican supporters ready to commit on Elena Kagan’s lifetime appointment. A Judiciary Committee vote on Kagan’s nomination is likely by July 20, setting the stage for a confirmation vote in the Senate.”

Andrew C. McCarthy writing at National Review Online: “While Kagan was at the law school, her patron, Harvard’s president Larry Summers, accepted a stunning $20 million donation for the creation of a program of studies to lionize Islam’s history and jurisprudence. The cash came from the Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire investor whose attempted $10 million contribution to the Twin Towers fund had been refused by New York mayor Rudy Giuliani when bin Talal blamed the 9/11 atrocities on American foreign policy. … Yet there were no condemnations from Dean Kagan over the prince’s lavish gift. To the contrary, she proceeded to forge the law school’s ‘Islamic Finance Project.’ Its purpose is to promote sharia compliance in the U.S. financial sector.”

William Saletan writing at Slate: “Elena Kagan doctored a statement by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Conservatives think this should disqualify her from the Supreme Court. They understate the scandal. It isn’t Kagan we should worry about. It’s the whole judiciary. Kagan, who was then an associate White House counsel, was doing her job: advancing the president’s interests. The real culprit was ACOG, which adopted Kagan’s spin without acknowledgment. But the larger problem is the credence subsequently given to ACOG’s statement by courts, including the Supreme Court. Judges have put too much faith in statements from scientific organizations. This credulity must stop.” Via Ross Douthat

Associated Press: “Republican Sen. John McCain says he plans to vote against confirming Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. … McCain says Kagan is unlikely to exercise judicial restraint, based on her decision as dean of Harvard Law School to bar military recruiters from the campus career services office because of the ban on openly gay soldiers.”

Sunshine State News: “The leading Republican candidate in the race for U.S. Senate, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, announced Tuesday that he opposes President Barack Obama’s nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court of the United States. … ‘Initially, my concerns with this nomination centered on her role in implementing the ban on military recruiters while she was dean at Harvard Law School,’ said Rubio. ‘Also, since she has no history as a judge, I hoped the confirmation process would reveal greater insight into her views on the role of judges and the judiciary in America. After all, the proper role of a judge is not to create laws, but to interpret and apply the law within the parameters of our Constitution.’”

NY Daily News: “President Obama may get liberal Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court, but conservative swing-voter Anthony Kennedy says he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Justice Kennedy, who turns 74 this month, has told relatives and friends he plans to stay on the high court for at least three more years – through the end of Obama’s first term, sources said.”

Los Angeles Times: “Already, the healthcare overhaul law, Obama’s signal achievement, is under attack in the courts. Republican attorneys general from 20 states have sued, insisting the law and its mandate to buy health insurance exceed Congress’ power and trample on states’ rights. Two weeks ago, a federal judge in New Orleans ruled Obama had overstepped his authority by ordering a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. On another front, the administration says it will soon go to court in Phoenix seeking to block Arizona’s controversial immigration law, which is due to take effect July 29. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer said Arizona would go to the Supreme Court, if necessary, to preserve the law.”

Politico: “[T]he GOP has more than just a math problem with Kagan. It has a passion problem — the party, which has used judicial nominations to stoke the culture wars for more than a decade, appears to have lost its edge on judges. … some Republicans griped privately over what they saw as Sessions’s largely unfocused attacks, which failed to provide a compelling counternarrative about her nomination. … After denouncing the filibusters Democrats used against George W. Bush’s nominees, including an unsuccessful attempt with Associate Justice Samuel Alito and successful filibusters to prevent conservative icon Miguel Estrada from becoming a federal judge, top Republicans don’t now want to look like hypocrites.”

PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly [video at link]: “[GREG BAYLOR] (Attorney, Christian Legal Society): What we’re talking about here is the ability of a group to preserve its message, and it doesn’t make sense for a public university to say to a private student group you have to give up your Christian faith in order to get the same privileges that other groups have.”

The Salk Lake Tribune: “While Kagan, a Democrat, has faced the greatest scrutiny on her views of abortion and gay rights, some atheist, agnostic and secularist groups aren’t convinced she is the best choice for the court. Part of the reason: She is poised to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, one of the court’s strongest voices for a strict separation of church and state.”

Shannen Coffin writing at National Review Online / The Corner: “Elena Kagan’s explanation of her involvement in editing ACOG’s statement of policy on the abortion method was that she was merely helping ACOG put into words what they had been expressing all along in meetings with the White House. … The White House clearly meddled in the deliberations of a supposedly (but clearly not) nonpartisan medical association on a key issue of medical fact. Whether or not ACOG had ever expressed the views that Kagan put into words — and there are reasons to question that assertion — the White House crossed a line in pushing the medical debate. It politicized science — a charge that is thrown around frequently by Democrats, and practice that is used more frequently by them.” | Related: Coffin’s original article: Kagan’s abortion distortion

Breitbart: “Republican Leader Mitch McConnell saying that he wasn’t sure she could ‘constrain the ardent political advocacy that has marked much of her adult life.’ … One member of the committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, announced Friday that he would be voting against Kagan, despite his approval of her as solicitor general last year. … Hatch’s announcement was soon followed by similar statements from McConnell and GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.”

Vikram David Amar writing at FindLaw: “While I am obviously pleased (and perhaps a tad surprised) that the Supreme Court embraced the position that [Michael Dorf] expertly crafted, I will attempt, as best I can, to be more detached in the observations I offer in this column. … Observation #1: At the High Court, Doctrine Truly Matters … The choice of the ‘reasonable’ and viewpoint-neutral test –that is, the choice of the appropriate doctrinal box or category on the First Amendment caselaw flowchart — was crucial to resolving the case. If a different box had been chosen, a different (and more stringent) test would have applied, and a different result might very well have obtained. … Observation #2: Concessions Made In the Course of Litigation Matter At the High Court … Observation # 3: Deference to Institutional Judgment Matters to the Justices, and Perhaps Especially So in University Cases.”

“Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has scheduled a committee vote for Tuesday, July 13, according to a notice sent to reporters this afternoon.”