Jeffrey Toobin says Elena Kagan Likely New Supreme Court Justice

In an exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview, Jeffrey Toobin reveals his No. 1 pick for Stevens' replacement: Elena Kagan. The Supreme Court expert says of her: "She's very much an Obama type person, a moderate Democrat, a consensus builder..."

He also comments on her likely environmental leanings and the future of the Supreme Court...

"If you start to have an energized liberal group of young Justices...the wind could be at their back and if Obama gets re-elected you could see more appointments, so it's a big deal."

For more background and photos, check out Fresh Dialogues (link http://freshdialogue.com/) and Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel.

 

Follow Alison van Diggelen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/FreshDialogues

Comments

[dourdinlives]

01:28 PM on 05/10/2010

as long as the likes of alito, roberts, scalia and thomas are on the supreme court, the scotus means nothing.making corporations persons proves it.if a corporation is a person, and is found guilty of a crime...will everyone in the building and the stockholders be sentenced to prison sentences? i don't think so...so that ruling was bogus.any entity making bogus representations and bogus decisions with bogus results is just..well...bogus, and should not be respected or taken serious.

[Azsin]

12:33 AM on 05/10/2010

as long as she
votes down AZ racist law
and okla abortion law
as long as she declared that limits on guns is fine since we ca limit the first amendment

[JessCostello]

08:20 AM on 05/10/2010

as long as she upholds the AZ law....

How about secure the border, find out who's here, deport anyone who's committed a crime (besides hopping the border) and let's talk about amnesty and a revised Visa process.

If Obama secures the damn border, you'll be surprised at how many former Republicans will be voting for him for the first time come 2012.

[HillaryGoAway]

12:31 AM on 05/10/2010

who cares what Greenwald says? yawn.

[David Hart]

11:58 PM on 05/09/2010

Another sad day in the history of this very disappointing administration.

[Swampfish]

12:04 AM on 05/10/2010

No better than Bush folks.The Corporations have won again.

Sad day indeed for America.

[HillaryGoAway]

12:11 AM on 05/10/2010

not one for specifics are you?

[PostModernPatriot]

11:44 PM on 05/09/2010

Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing...When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

[rbenjamin]

11:35 PM on 05/09/2010

"She's very much an Obama type person..."

In other words, Type O. As opposed to type A (activist). Or type B (activist that Republicans like).

[wethepeople3884]

06:08 AM on 04/12/2010

Kagan, a "moderate democrat" that will "energize liberal group of young Justices?" Nothing in this interview made sense - moderate democrats are not liberals? What liberal group of young justices is he referring to? What has kagan done exactly that makes her a liberal? If anything the younger energized group as he said in the first part are right-wingers like roberts and alito and thomas. I am not even sure where sotomayor stands on most things yet. Obama cannot pick a moderate democrat and hope it energizes some non-existent young liberal core. he would have to pick a liberal to do that or to energize his voting base. This is the problem with obama - after radical right-wing nutjobs trample the country for eight years we vote in a faux progressive who is as moderate centrist as they come to try to fix the damage with his concesus building and bipartisanship and olive branches. The right does not play these games when they have power - they do what they want. Alito and Roberts were not moderates. I like obama as a person but he is agonizingly frustrating as a president - his willingness to reach compromise in an atmosphere in which there is no middle ground shows a complete lack of understanding in the political climate, unrealistic even delusional optimism and a heart-wrenching display of ignoring his progressive base to meet his opponents in obama is a socialist ground. its obscene to call obama a liberal

[vinny]

11:06 PM on 05/09/2010

this is right on.

[Tassilo]

11:56 PM on 05/09/2010

This is dead on. Thanks.

[wethepeople3884]

05:55 AM on 04/12/2010

"If you start to have an energized liberal group of young Justices...the wind could be at their back and if Obama gets re-elected you could see more appointments, so it's a big deal."

Kagan is a liberal now? I really think the word liberal is lost on people that aren't one. Liberal doesn't mean anyone that isn't a republican, we have that word already - a non-republican or an independent or democrat. Liberals do not form the entire left side of the aisle or even half of it. A moderate democrat is NOT A LIBERAL. Why cant people get this simple concept? Obama is not a liberal. Centrists are not liberal - words have definitions. People that write stuff or talk in front of cameras to an actual audience may want to look the words they employ up in a dictionary one of these days. How bout it toobin?

[vinny]

11:10 PM on 05/09/2010

thank you. and will add that anyone who thinks they are liberal, should read up on the term..

we have a lot of obamacrats identifying themselves as liberal, and then turning around and supporting conservadem policies... they are SHOCKED when you point this out to them.

get the cliff notes, or better yet read John Rawls Theory of Justice (1971) if you are interested in the contemporary liberal democratic position.

[OkitaSoji]

12:38 AM on 05/10/2010

Even though I'm sure you worked really hard in that political philosophy class that you took in college, you might want to take a closer look at it "A

[MaryscottOConnor]

06:05 PM on 04/11/2010

If we ever needed any MORE proof that Kagan is exactly the WRONG choice for the nomination, the fact that Jeffrey TOOBIN wants her to be it should do the trick.

[raker]

01:32 PM on 04/11/2010

Once upon a time there were three little pigs. One built his house of straw, one of sticks, and one bricks. The big bad wolf huffed and puffed and blew down the houses of straw and sticks, but the third little pig was a consensus builder, so he agreed to let the wolf blow the roof off his house, content to be left with only his sturdy brick walls. And then the wolf ate him. The end.

[charlietuna11]

11:51 AM on 04/11/2010

lets be honest,the only reason he would pick kagen is to please the aipac crowd. the better pick would be wood or the senater from rhode island. i found it puzzling she came to the rescue of larry summers . why is she of all people being considered the front runner? are there no other candidates with her alleged expertice?

[MaryscottOConnor]

06:07 PM on 04/11/2010

Oh, for god's sake, leave AIPAC out of it. There are plenty of terrific reasons to run SHRIEKING from a Kagan nomination -- AIPAC being not even close to the top ONE HUNDRED.

Good god, if I had a dollar for every time someone tried to start a damned flame war by dropping the name AIPAC into a conversation...

[vinny]

11:18 PM on 05/09/2010

well put, O'Connor

[dourdinlives]

12:13 AM on 05/10/2010

why don't we all just admit that the japethic jews have our nation in a stranglehold (as do the confederate states of america) and that there is nothing we can do about it unless we can force the people who sit on their duffs during elections to the polls to cast their votes.if obama had enough votes in the senate and congress he could have nominated betty white or al sharpton.we could have had single payer public option healthcare and stop the robber barons from swiping 30 percent off the top of the healthcare budget. people you have to vote. if you would just vote, there would not be an alito, roberts, or thomas or kagan on our supreme court.we outnumber the teabaggers,sons of the confederate south, and the bitter folk out in the netherlands where no tourist ever wants to go, who can always be counted on by the GOP to vote against their own interests because black people won't just die and go away the way they want them to.

[wethepeople3884]

06:16 AM on 04/12/2010

what is with you people? Stop with blaming everyone but obama already. Its not aipac. It is not the soviet unions fault. It is not china or Israel. it is not corporate pressures by intense lobbying against obama's supreme court nominee. It is not even the republicans because obama is a bright guy - he knows that who he picks is irrelevant to their inevitable obstructionism. Fact is, this is obama's choice and that of his advisors. Obama whimps out and still has to deal with a fight and being called a radical and socialist after nominated a moderate centrist he is the fool. If he nominates a progressive and dukes it out like he has a spine, he will finally show some fight. But this is obama, not aipac. Geez, you people and your scapegoats. Why don't you blame communists and Jews too just to cover your bases.

[DUSAA-1775]

05:05 AM on 04/11/2010

So Alison says that Jeffrey says that Elena will be Obama's pick for the SC. With the HP showing these headlines, scooping the entire country, it is no wonder the NYT has financial problems.
I am so glad i couldn't sleep...would not have wanted to miss this

[keithdengenis]

02:32 AM on 04/11/2010

Eric Holder - Our Attorney General.

Clear sail through the Senate for changing evidenciary rules allowing Ted Stevens to grow older in Alaska instead of growing old in Federal Lock Up.

Quid Pro Quo.

[keithdengenis]

02:27 AM on 04/11/2010

Since we're "Handicapping" for the SCOTUS gig, I've got one for you all to ponder:

Eric Holder. Yep, the AG.

Inside skinny: He changed the Justice Department's Evidentiary Rules to allow Former Senator Ted Stevens to spend the rest of his life outisde of jail. This may have been to assure him a clear/filabuster proof confirmation by the US Senate.

You know, Quid Pro Quo.

[wethepeople3884]

06:26 AM on 04/12/2010

They lost the filibuster proof majority anyway and the whole idea of it was a hoax. Leiberman, lincoln and landreiu are just as likely to filibuster with republicans as they are to vote with dems. That is hardly what i call the dem party walking in lock step. They did not compromise away healthcare reform (at least at the end) to win republican votes. They did it, to win "democrat" votes. Not to mention, Stevens lost the seat which most people predicted was coming considering everything. The judge also held the prosecutor in contempt prior to being charged with misconduct. Plus, the prosecution dropped all charges and no mistrial was called or anything like that. Holder worked to replace the prosecution, not to clear him of all charges.

According to the judge:
"On April 7, 2009, federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan formally accepted Holder's motion to set aside the verdict and throw out the indictment , based on what he called the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct he'd ever seen. He also initiated a criminal contempt investigation of six members of the prosecution."

The prosecution may in fact be convicted of misconduct and contempt.

[wethepeople3884]

06:28 AM on 04/12/2010

Judge Sullivan:
"Although an internal probe by the Office of Professional Responsibility was already underway, Sullivan said he was not willing to trust it due to the "shocking and disturbing" nature of the misconduct."

[DFutureIsNow]

01:00 AM on 04/11/2010

No one around here was excited about Sotomayor but she turned out just fine, I trust President Obama to make a pick that will reflect his vision for the country, that's all that matters.

[DUSAA-1775]

04:58 AM on 04/11/2010

Wow ! Did you just return from 2035?? thanks for sharing that Justice Sotomayer turned out just fine.
Do you have any other news from the future? Did history ever decide what Obama's vision was?

[cyndeewi]

08:42 AM on 04/11/2010

Nothing wrong with Obama's pick of Justice Sotomayor.. I just hope he puts African American on the Court.. please don't enlighten about the wannabe Clarence Thomas.

[wethepeople3884]

06:36 AM on 04/12/2010

What is his vision exactly? Compromise away his principles in hopes of avoiding any significant battle with the minority opposition? You think sotomayor is fine based on what? There is not nearly enough evidence of this although I think she will be okay. Fact is, roberts and alito and thomas are not just okay - they are the republican's wet dream. That is the difference - we get moderates and they nominate extremists with obvious republican agendas. That is why this court has been veering more and more to the right since stevens first joined the court. That is why every single chief justice has been more to the right of his predecessor of the last four. Every single member of the court right now including stevens is further to the right of their predecessor. You have to go allllll the way back to JFK to find a justice who was to the left of his predecessor. That is abhorrent. That is insane. And it reflect this asinine political climate in which centrists like obama are called socialist radicals and progressive liberals.