Politics overrules process these days
Published 8:41 pm Thursday, July 22, 2010
It comes as no surprise that Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., is opposing the nomination of U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Shelby, citing Kagan’s “lack of judicial experience” said in a statement Thursday “what little information she offered during her confirmation hearings did not accrue to her credit, in my judgment.”
It’s not likely that Shelby’s opposition will do much to halt Kagan’s nomination, despite his concerns or the concerns voiced by other Republicans in the Senate.
Kagan’s nomination was supported by the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this week in a 13-6 vote, almost entirely along party lines.
Now, as the entire Senate takes up the nomination process, it’s likely she will be confirmed, perhaps with some Republican votes along the way.
Unfortunately, this partisan process only solidifies what many Americans are thinking these days: that the political divide is growing too wide in Washington, D.C. Moreover, President Obama’s promises of bipartisanship offered during the campaign trail have fallen by the wayside, pushed aside to make way for his agenda and that of the Democratic Party leadership which is out of touch with many voters in America. Take, for example, the overwhelming public disapproval of the health care reform, which weighed little into the discourse when Democrats pushed the measure through Congress earlier this year.
Now, weary politicians looking ahead to midterm elections and hopeful of a coming change, are fighting another losing battle in the Kagan nomination. And Kagan will be nominated to the nation’s highest court, seemingly without proving her judicial merits and, as Shelby said, explaing “where her political philosophy ends and her judicial philosophy begins.”