Political Quotes

“One thing about Elena Kagan: When you look at her series of jobs, you realize she has been in the arena as a manager, a teacher, an adviser, a consensus builder, and a lawyer. In every job, she has worked very hard and has done very well. Her work on the front lines tells me she has the practical experience in thinking about the impact of the law and policies on ordinary people, and I think sometimes that is missing in some of these decisions. There is a case I dwell on involving prosecutions and what kind of evidence can come before the court when you are dealing with some of the DNA tests, and I disagree with the recent Court decision that actually wasn't decided on ideological grounds but I believe was decided in an impractical way. I believe Solicitor General Kagan will bring that kind of practicality to the Court. When you are involved in considering the nitty-gritty details of different policies, when you are actually in the game as a decisionmaker, as she has been, you have to figure out when to compromise and when to hold firm. You have to know what the consequences of your recommendations will be. As a law school dean, Elena Kagan was widely credited with bringing together a faculty that was rife with division. Whether she was helping recruit talented professors from across the political spectrum or later, when she was working with Senators from both parties on tobacco legislation, she forged coalitions and found resolution between seemingly intractable parties.…”