Justice Kagan Laments Partisan Confirmation Conflict

Political conflict over judicial confirmations may be harmful for the courts.

Speaking to a group of University of Chicago students on Wednesday, Justice Elena Kagan lamented the partisan conflict that has consumed contemporary judicial confirmations.

From a CNN report:

"There is so much tit-for-tat for tit-for-tat that goes on in these processes," Kagan said at an event with University of Chicago interns at the court on Wednesday. "Everybody has their list of times that they've been wronged. The Republicans have their list and the Democrats have their list."

"It's an unfortunate thing. Because it makes the world think we are sort of junior varsity politicians. I think that's not the way we think of ourselves, even given the fact that we disagree," Kagan said. . . .

"There have certainly been periods where the expectation has been that if you have a certain set of qualifications and if you looked like you were going to be a responsible judge, even if somebody thinks that there is going to be some set of rulings which they'll disagree with, the expectation was, nonetheless the President was entitled to his Supreme Court pick," Kagan said.

"These votes make it seem that we're an extension of the political process," she added. "Long-term I think that's very unhealthy for the court."

Audio of the remarks is available on YouTube.