On Tuesday, Elena Kagan moved one step closer to becoming he third woman on the United States Supreme Court when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to endorse her nomination. The committee's vote sends Kagan's nomination to the full senate for debate and vote. She is widely expected to win confirmation. Kagan has already shattered glass ceilings for women in the law. She was the first woman U.S. Solicitor General and the first woman Dean of Harvard Law School.
In this class we will study the Supreme Court and how they interpret the public policy that governs us all. Supreme Court justices serve for life, so their views can have an impact far into the future, yet most people know little about them.
My assignment to you this week is two-fold. First, I would like you to post one interesting fact about Elena Kagan. You can do this through a quick search on the Internet. You may not post something that has already been mentioned by someone else. Second, I would like to know, "If you were a Supreme Court Justice, what would be one law that you would want to change in America"? Answers are due no later than Tuesday, July 27th, 2010.
Elena Kagan did not only help at Harvard, but between the years 1991-1995 she was an Assistant Professor. Then she took the role of Professor from 1995-1997 at the University of Chicago. If I was in the Supreme Court Justice I would do my best to change the lows against Child Abuse and Molestation. One way to think about it is after something unspeakable happens to a child and the parents or guardians do all they can to get justice served, they then get to pay for the criminal to sit in jail for "X" amount of time. The criminal can get out of jail and may or may not commit a crime like this again, but it will always affect the victim. With that being said harsher punishment should be dealt to someone that can do something that bad.
ReplyDeleteElena Kagan attended Princeton, Oxford, and Harvard for furthering education. WOW she has such an educational background. If I became a Supreme Court Justice I would work diligently to stop abortions in the United States. I truly believe that God creates every single person born into this world and if he did not want or plan for a child to be born he would not allow it.
ReplyDeleteElena Kagan was appointed as Solicitor General of the United States on March 19, 2009. The task of the Office of the Solicitor General is to supervise and conduct government litigation in the United States Supreme Court. If I were a Supreme Court Justice, I would allow children more freedoms while in school and not so many restrictions and give back to parents their rights to choose what is best for their children. Today's schools are becoming more like prison's everyday.
ReplyDeleteIf confirmed, Elena Kagan will be the youngest justice to serve on court at the age of 50. I am glad that she is breaking glass ceilings for all women. That's truly inspiring and she's paving the way for alot of women.
ReplyDeleteIf I was Supreme Court Justice, the one law I would change is to force all states to honor the Full Faith and Credit Clause. We talked about this in class and I thought that it was interesting that states would honor licenses but not gay marriage. If someone gets pulled over by the police, the first thing they ask to see is their license, not their sexual orientation card. To me, that's uncivil and unfair.
Who are we to judge and say that people of certain sexual orientations cannot marry? I fully support gay rights and to hear my friends talk about the restrictions that they face is outraging. No one tells us hetereosexuals who to marry and they probably could care less, so why should they interfer with who homosexuals want to marry? I feel as though if one state allows it, then all states should immediately follow.
ok so a intesting face about Elena is that she didn't learn to drive a car until she was in her late twenty's. i would stop abortion i truly believe that everyone is here for a reason and no one says it better then doctor seuss "a person is a person no matter how small"
ReplyDeleteInteresting facts about Elena Kagan. She became associate counsel to Clinton in 1995 and climbed the ladder to deputy assistant to Clinton for domestic policy and deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council in 1997. In 1999-2009 Becomes a professor at Harvard Law School. In 2003, named as dean of Harvard Law School. I would also stop abortion because it is wrong and life is life and it shouldn't be taken. I would also come up with a law for college students like for instance, doing community work and maintaining a higher scale GPA all years you go to college your schooling would be free. Not sure yet but I would make some law for hard working dedicated college students.
ReplyDeleteFun fact: Elena Kegan was born 118 days into the year of 1960.
ReplyDeleteI truly hope by the time the time that those individuals who would liketo have a say in another life, other then that of their own, that their rigid convictions will be recognized as intolerant and uncultivated ideals to themselves and those around them.
Redefining life, marriage, social structure, and the way they interact is not hindring your beliefs or belittling your beliefs dispight what you've been told or what you "feel".
I contend that the same God who gave you the sense of reason, empathy and intelligence didn't wish for you to abandon their use.
Instead of forcing more reatrictions on individuals with their ever so slight differences - why not focus our efforts towards equality in areas such as race, education, as well as the rights of same sex couples and the rights of women? We are still struggling to produce a progressive outcomethat can promote the prosperity of our species; not questions and thinking about these issues have kept us from advancing in terms of a common intelligence of mankind.
Heres another read for those still searching foe entertainment via the Internet.
Http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20100722/890/twl-six-in-mexico-get-25-30-in-jai.html
Interesting facts about Elena Kagan is that apparently she has never been married and it is rumored that she might be a lesbian. not that it should matter...
ReplyDeleteanyway one thing that i would change if i were a Supreme Court Justice, it would probably be having the same rights for all people that are american meaning that gays and blacks and whites would all be equal and on the same level.
One interesting fact about Elena Kagan is that she is Jewish.
ReplyDeleteIf I were a Supreme Court Justice, I would change the harsh laws surrounding possession of marijuana. I think offenders should be punished, but not so harshly. We are spending way too much money to keep people in jail just because they had a small amount of marijuana. We should spend our time and effort incarcerating rapists, pedophiles, murders, etc. I have even heard of instances of serious criminals spending less time in prison than those charged with possession. To me, that is simply ridiculous and it should not happen.
An interesting fact about Elena Kagan is that if confirmed, Kagan would become the first Justice to the Supreme Court in nearly 40 years who has no previous judicial experience. Also when she was seventeen she had already decided what she wanted to be as an adult. While president of the student body her senior year, she posed for a yearbook picture wearing a judge's robe and holding a gavel. She chose a quote from Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter to accompany her senior photo: "Government is itself an art, one of the subtlest of the arts."
ReplyDeleteIf I were a Supreme Court Justice, I would also enforce the Full Faith and Credit Clause, mainly because I think we are all equal and we should have the same rights.
Elena Kagan is the middle child of 3, the other 2 kids being boys.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Supreme Court Justice, I would try to change the "no child left behind" law and make it so that it actually works. education is too big of a thing to just sweep under the rug and get out of the way.
Elena Kagan is a personal friend of Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor. They were classmates at Harvard Law.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Supreme Court Justice, I too would try to change the laws surrounding abortion. I would like to stop it all together.
Elena Kagan, 50-year-old, who is President Obama announced nominee to become the 112th Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. On May 10th Obama announced the Kagan as his nominee, filling the expected vacancy created by the announced retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens at the end of the Supreme Court's 2009-2010 term. United Stats news confirmed Elena Kagan would become the fourth female Supreme Court justice in U.S. history and third on the court's current bench.
ReplyDeleteElena Kagan was a law clerk for Justice Thurgood Mashall of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988. There he gave her the nickname "Shorty" because she is 5 foot 3 inches tall. If I were a Supreme Court Justice I would focus on gay rights. I think everyone no matter their sexual orientation should have equal rights.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see that we are, for the majority of this post thus far, are for the equality of others.
ReplyDelete2005 to 2008, Kagan was a member of the Research Advisory Council of the Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Supreme Court Justice I would focus more on the dangerous crimes such as rape and murder other than focusing so much on something little like weed. Tom made a good point on this subject as well.
Kagan was born on the upper west side of new york.
ReplyDeleteif i were a supreme court justice i would make the law of not forcing your religious beliefs on others and making them believe in things they don't feel they need to believe in because everywhere you go there is some religious nut trying to force you to believe in some higher being that probably doesn't even exist.
Elena Kagan currently states that he religion is Conservative Judaism.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Supreme Court Justice, I would work towards mending the corruption that exists in the system by which state officials are elected.
It's interesting how most everyone posted about equal rights, I think it says something about the upcoming generations.
Elena Kagan was born to Gloria and Robert Kagan.
ReplyDeleteI would like to change same sex marriage if i could. I believe that everyone should have the same rights. If we aren't suppose to discriminate against ones color, race, gender, etc. in the workforce why are we doing it outside of the workforce.
fact...Elena Kagan is not in favor of the second amendment right for Americans right to keep and bear arms. I like were she stand on the all of the equal rights stuff though.
ReplyDeleteIf I had the opportunity to change some laws I would look more towards getting American back to being free, it just seems to me that there are way to many laws limiting us from doing things that cause no harm to anyone else, if we are supposed to be the freest nation in the world we should allow gay marriage and have equal rights for everyone, just to name a few.
I would also like to work on our foreign policy, it seems to me that our government is more worried about the rest of the world and what they think of us then our citizens and our problems at home. We are taking care of all these problems over seas when we don't even have it all figured out at home yet, we need to be leading by example instead of the "do what I say not what I do" policy we seem to be living on.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked Elena Kagan who would win between Werewolves and Vampires. Elena simply replied "I wish you wouldn't", and to this day has not taken a side.
ReplyDeleteI would use my power to create laws that helped clean our environment.
I didn't name one specifically because there are a hundred possibilities, and just doing one wouldn't save much.
Just to include an example, I would possibly come up with a plan to use inmates to do more work.
If we're going to pay taxes to keep them alive, then I want my money's worth.
-Craig Smith
If this was facebook I would have liked Craigs last sentence.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting fact about Elena Kagan is she was once a reporter and when she was working at harvard she barred military recruiters from campus. She felt they discriminated against gay men and women. If I were a supreme court justice there are many things I would do. Besides doing away with no child left behind, I would put a strong stance against this Amnesty bill that is being discussed. I love that America is a melting pot, but there is a certain way to do things. Im tired of agendas and politicians not doing what is best for the people. They are supposed to be speaking for us. Just allowing any and everyone automatic entry to our country with "maybe" a back ground check is horrible. Ignoring their pasts and criminal histories just gives these possible citizens everything, and will teach them nothing. Our ancestors came to this country and had to work for it and prove that they will be law abiding, productive citizens. I would also do more to get better benefits for all military. I want better assistance programs for the men and women of military, especially those coming back from serving. These people go through so much to defend our country and help others. Many of them have some trouble with it and dont get the assistance they need. That would also apply to their families and spouses. I would do more to help small businesses and not hinder them, like what is being done now. I would also want to work on better assistance programs for battered women and single moms. There are so many great things our generation can do. Im really worried about where the USA will be in ten years but I hope our youth can have a voice and make a difference that is good for everyone.
ReplyDeletefact: She began her career as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.
ReplyDeleteif i was able to be on supreme court i would interpret the constitution to the best of my ability, seeing all sides of the issues at hand equally, and make choices that need to be made for the people as a whole rather then just one group.
An interesting fact about Elena is that "as dean, Kagan supported a lawsuit intended to overturn the Solomon Amendment so military recruiters might be banned from the grounds of schools like Harvard." If I could change a law, I would make same sex marriages legal and give them the same rights as everyone else.
ReplyDeleteI know one interesting fact about her is that Elana Kagan is that she has finally been voted onto the Supreme Court. One law I would change is that "Don't ask don't tell" thing. That is just not right. Gay or not they are still Americans and they have just as much right to fight for their country.
ReplyDeleteA recent fact about Elana Kagan is that she is a fan of the opera and with her first outing as the Supreme Court justice, she got the VIP treatment and got to sit center orchestra seats at Washington's National Opera house. Now if i were the Supreme Court Justice, i would make it a law that every high schooler must graduate because there are way, way, way, too many kids not finishing school and it's disappointing to hear that Indiana is one of the worst states with the amount of kids dropping out of school.
ReplyDeleteElana Kagan wrote her senior thesis at Princeton on socialism in New York City. If I were a Supreme Court Justice I would legalize the use and distribution of Marijuana. BOOYAH! :D
ReplyDeleteElena Kagan spelled backwards is Nagak Anele. If I were voted into the supreme court I would maybe do something about all of these expensive prisoners we are paying for..or maybe pass some laws for our families without health insurance..I have no idea. So many things that need to be done.
ReplyDeleteTom Whitesell
ReplyDeleteIf i were appointed supreme court justice i would definently introduce the legalization of marijuana for a new american law. The time that we live in now is one where marijuana is growing more and more acceptable, and its time this country start taking advantage of the benefits that could come from it. The fact that marijuana is the number one cash crop in america without even being legal is astonishing, and the money that could be brought out of taxing legal marijuana would be enough to bring this country out of any kind of recession and make things a lot better for citizens of the united states.