Dredging for Details

Because she has never served on the bench at any level, either trial or appellate, reporters have needed to be a little more creative in their search for clues on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's judicial philosophy. While many have viewed her as more moderate than some of the other potential nominees, mostly due to her ability to play politics with both sides of the aisle as the dean at Harvard Law, Ms. Kagan undoubtedly shares many of President Obama's political beliefs; otherwise he would not have selected her.

Determining just how closely they are politically aligned however can only really be attempted by piecing together clues via a montage approach; for example, reading her brief memos while clerking for Justice Thurgood Marshall in the late eighties. Another source is her arguments before the Court in her role as Solicitor General.

However, while most of these sources have affirmed Ms. Kagan's liberal credentials, they can also be a bit misleading as in the former case, she was working for a liberal Justice, and in the latter she was representing the opinions of the government. While her opinions undoubtedly impacted her work product (and indeed her ability to get such jobs in the first place), such sources may not accurately represent her overall philosophy on every issue. More importantly, none have proven to be a bombshell or the proverbial smoking gun which would turn the tide against her. In other words, they are more fodder for News Entertainment shows and Senators trying to make names for themselves than cause for alarm out of the White House.

Anything can happen between now and the potential confirmation of Ms. Kagan to her lifetime post. Additionally, some fireworks during confirmation hearings can be expected. However, if Blawgconomics had an intrade.com account, we would probably find more interesting places to put our hard-earned student loan money than betting against confirmation.