There's a lot to say about Republicans and the Supreme Court but -- just for today -- let's look at the naked idiocy of [insert the name of any Senate Republican here like, for example, the ridiculous Mr. Kyl] using time during the Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings to go after Thurgood Marshall, for god's sake!
Yummy! Keep up the good work, fellas! This should bring y'all a lot of [guffaws? support?] in the voting booths.
Dana Milbank has been tracking the bumblers.
As confirmation hearings opened Monday afternoon, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee took the unusual approach of attacking Kagan because she admired the late justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom she clerked more than two decades ago.
"Justice Marshall's judicial philosophy," said Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, "is not what I would consider to be mainstream." Kyl -- the lone member of the panel in shirtsleeves for the big event -- was ready for a scrap. Marshall "might be the epitome of a results-oriented judge," he said.
It was, to say the least, a curious strategy to go after Marshall, the iconic civil rights lawyer who successfully argued Brown vs. Board of Education. Did Republicans think it would help their cause to criticize the first African American on the Supreme Court, a revered figure who has been celebrated with an airport, a postage stamp and a Broadway show? The guy is a saint -- literally. Marshall this spring was added to the Episcopal Church's list of "Holy Women and Holy Men," which the Episcopal Diocese of New York says "is akin to being granted sainthood."
I guess Kyl's ignernce doesn't go far enough. Jeff Sessions, another dim bulb, had to add his wisdom followed by both Grassley and Cornyn.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the panel, branded Marshall a "well-known activist." Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Marshall's legal view "does not comport with the proper role of a judge or judicial method." Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) pronounced Marshall "a judicial activist" with a "judicial philosophy that concerns me."
As Dana Milbank takes pains to point out, they are dissing a justice who has already been confirmed. Some staffie needs to remind this nutty quartet that he's also dead. Then someone needs to separate Senator Cornyn from the juice -- or whatever lubrication he uses.
The lack of a coherent attack on the nominee became apparent when Cornyn began his opening statement with a quotation that he said he received in an e-mail: "Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. Liberty is a man of war, and we're all the crew."
"I don't know why I thought of that," Cornyn told the perplexed audience. ...Dana Milbank, WaPo
Meanwhile, Justice Marshall's son, Thurgood Marshall, Jr., was in the hearing room, seated behind Elena Kagan. He was laughing.
___
Ezra Klein, bless him, uncovers in one swell foop the fatuity of the hearings and the worthiness of Justice Kagan.
Kagan proved herself capable of sitting still and looking interested for long periods of time, which is understood to be a key qualification for a Justice.
