My Comments on Elena Kagan’s Confirmation Hearing

As I watched Ms. Kagan’s confirmation hearings before Senate Judiciary Committee last week, I was intrigued and amused by her superb intellectual capability and her balanced judicial temperament. I would like to comment on her response to one of the questions from Senator Coburn.

It’s a simple question really, Sen. Coburn asked Ms. Kagan should Congress tell Americans what they can or cannot eat? Let’s say if the government passes a hypothetical law stating that every citizen must eat two vegetables a day, do you think the government is abusing its right on the ‘commerce clause’?

Ms. Kagan responded by saying that although this is a stupid law, and it’s not the duty of the court o strike down stupid laws. The court only deals with the constitutionality of the law.

Senator Coburn was implying that the current health care reform where Congress requires every American to buy insurance is like Congress telling Ameircans what they should eat. Ms. Kagan characterized the hypothetical law as a “stupid law”, which distinguishes it from the real and complicated health care reform bill.

Ms. Kagan went on and argued that the Supreme Court shouldn’t strike down a law simply because it’s stupid. The Supreme Court should only decide on its constitutionality. She was correct at interpreting the constitutional authority of the court as laid out by the Founding Fathers. She cleverly stated that even if a law is super-unpopular, Supreme Court should upload it. Her implied message was that only the political branch should legislate and further implication was that she would not strike down the health care bill.