Kagan draws mixed reactions from Senate Judiciary Committee

“As a judge, you are on nobody’s team. As a judge, you are an independent actor.”

Elena Kagan

“You listen to her answers, you can see why Harvard picked her to be dean of the law school and you can see why she was picked to be the first woman as solicitor general. It was like being back and hearing some of the very best professors I had in law school listening to her answers. They were superb.”

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.)

“She has been, in my view, a witness who has manifested a deep knowledge of the law, and she’s certainly very adept at describing what she thinks about the law. By the same token, I think she’s been very adept at avoiding very specific questions that could result in criticism of her point of view.”

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)

“She obviously cannot comment on cases that could come before the court, but she’s been very forthcoming on her views. And I think she’s impressing the members of our committee and the American people.”

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.)

“I think we’ve learned a couple of things.... No. 1 is precedent trumps original intent. That is very worrisome for a Supreme Court. What that says is you discount what is in the Constitution, and the learned men of today have more wisdom and more knowledge than what our founders did.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)

“There may be judges on the court who have a particular mission right now and are selectively knocking out precedent that does not coincide with their ideological views.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)

“The last thing I will say is I am concerned that she views the power of the federal government to be essentially without limit. She said yesterday that the courts would defer to Congress, and Congress knows no limit to its power grabs, as we’ve seen recently.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R- Texas)

“I wished I had said this to Justice [ Sonia] Sotomayor, but I didn’t think of it at the time. But you know, you’re a wonderful role model for women. And we’ll forget whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

“I wish you well. You handled yourself well.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

Times Research