Elena Kagan

MANIFESTO

Readers of this blog may remember the set-to the Constitution State experienced when Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz was challenged in her bid to become the state's Attorney General. The situation was ultimately resolved, but the prospect of the state having an attorney general who, you know, has never actually practiced law in a court is a little unsettling.

And now we have the case of Elena Kagan, BO's selection to be the latest justice on the SCOTUS. She's apparently been a successful Solicitor General, but she's never been a judge. The whole thing is a bit bizarre. (Andrew Pincus defends the selection here.)

And while I don't think SCOTUS justices should necessarily represent certain constituencies of Americans (For one of the more laughable—and infamous—disagreements with this position, see here.), it's striking that, should Kagan be approved, the SCOTUS will have no Protestants on it in a country where more than half of its citizens identify themselves as same.