Elena Kagan has joined the U.S. Supreme Court. Here is a recap of AUL coverage of her nomination process with our analysis and commentary. Kagan File Archive
AUL’s Kagan File: The Case Against Kagan
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 28, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: The Case Against Kagan Today begins the confirmation hearing for Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court. Since the announcement of her nomination, we have released daily memoranda detailing our concerns about her nomination. Today, […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Questions for Kagan” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 25, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: Questions for Kagan Backgrounder: When the confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan begin on June 28th, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will have the opportunity to ask Kagan some very important questions. Below are five “top” […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Health Care Reform” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 22, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan and Health Care Reform What does the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court have to do with abortion funding in the sweeping health care reform law of March 2010? In addition to provisions of […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Confirmation Mess” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 23, 2010 RE: Kagan’s Upcoming Confirmation Hearing: Another “Confirmation Mess”? Backgrounder: Before a new Supreme Court justice takes office, she is required to take an oath to uphold and remain loyal to the U.S. Constitution. The Justice promises to “administer justice…under the […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Campaign Contributions” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 22, 2010 RE: Kagan Puts Her Money Where Her Political Ideology Is Backgrounder: Whom a person supports with hard-earned money speaks volumes about the values she holds. One gives financially to political candidates whom one respects, and whose political values, policies, and […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Week Six” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 21, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: Summary of File June 15-18 Backgrounder: Today’s file document is a summary of our memos from last week (June 15th through June 18th). Our full analyses, including citations, for each of these documents are linked below. […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Harris v. McRae” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: Interested Parties FROM: AUL Legal Team DATE: June 18, 2010 RE: Kagan, Marshall, and Harris v. McRae Backgrounder Thirty years ago, on June 30, 1980, in Harris v. McRae[1] (a case argued by Americans United for Life), the Supreme Court upheld the Hyde Amendment which is a federal restriction on the use of […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Oxford Thesis” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 17, 2010 RE: Kagan’s 1983 Oxford Thesis in Praise of Agenda-Driven Judges Background: In her graduate thesis[1], Elena Kagan discusses the exclusionary rule and its evolution through the years depending on the make-up of the Supreme Court. Kagan spends considerable time analyzing […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “No Impartial Justice” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 15, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: No Impartial Justice on Abortion Backgrounder: On Friday, the Clinton Library released thousands of documents from Elena Kagan’s service in the Clinton White House from 1995-1999. Kagan was one of President Clinton’s primary advisors on how […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Week Five” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 14, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: Summary of File June 7-11 Backgrounder: Today’s file document is a summary of our memos from last week (June 8th through June 11th). Our full analyses, including citations, for each of these documents are linked below. […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Agenda-Drive Judge” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: AUL Legal Team DATE: June 11, 2010 RE: Agenda-Driven Judging Over the course of the next month, you will hear from Americans United for Life and others that Elena Kagan will be an “agenda-driven judge.” The questions become—what does it mean to be such a judge? Why is this cause […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Human Cloning” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 9, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: Advocated Cloning Humans for Research Backgrounder: During the time that Elena Kagan served as a top domestic policy advisor for President Bill Clinton (1997-1999), she played a key role in shaping and executing the President’s response […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Assisted Suicide” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 9, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: Having a Ban on Assisted Suicide is a “fairly terrible idea” Backgrounder: In 1997, following the State of Oregon’s failure to repeal its law legalizing physician assisted suicide (PAS), some members of Congress responded by supporting […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Governmental Motive” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 8, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: Will Kagan impose a “governmental motive test” to invalidate state and federal abortion regulations? Backgrounder: In a law review article, Elena Kagan argued that First Amendment doctrine actually is focused not on the effects of a […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Week Four” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 7, 2010 RE: AUL’s Kagan File: Summary of File June 2-4 Backgrounder: Today’s file document is a summary of our memos from last week (June 2nd through June 4th). Our full analyses, including citations, for each of these documents are linked below. […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Marshall” Memo Number 5
MEMORANDUM TO: [Interested Parties] FROM: AUL Legal Team DATE: June 4, 2010 RE: Kagan, Marshall, and Abortion Backgrounder In April of 1988, Elena Kagan wrote to Justice Thurgood Marshall that a court order that mandated taxpayers to pay for the abortions of inmates was “well-intentioned.”[1] The case involved female inmates in the Monmouth County jail […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Proudest Association” Memo
Click here for a PDF version of this memo. MEMORANDUM To: Interested Parties From: AUL Legal Team Date: June 3, 2010 Re: Kagan on Barak: “Harvard Law’s Proudest Association” At an award ceremony held at Harvard Law School in September 2006, Dean Elena Kagan introduced the winner of the annual Peter Gruber Foundation Justice Prize, […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Pro-Life Speech” Memo
MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 2, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: Suppressing Pro-Life Speech Backgrounder: The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,[1] the first case argued (and lost) by Elena Kagan as Solicitor General before the Supreme Court, has quickly become one of […]
AUL’s Kagan File: Week Three
Click here for a PDF version of this memo. MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: June 1, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: Summary of File May 25-28 Backgrounder: Today’s file document is a summary of our memos from last week (May 25th through May 28th). Our full analyses, including […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Marshall Dissents” Memo, Part II
Click here for a PDF version of this memo. MEMORANDUM TO: Interested Parties FROM: AUL Legal Team DATE: May 28, 2010 RE: A Deeper Look at Marshall’s Dissents, Part II. On Wednesday we looked at Thurgood Marshall’s dissent in Beal v. Doe[1] and Maher v. Roe.[2] In those cases, Justice Marshall wanted to mandate taxpayer […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “College” Memo
Click here for a PDF version of this memo. MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: AUL Legal Team DATE: May 27, 2010 RE: Kagan’s Pro-Abortion Ideals in College: Animating Her Still? The late futurist Herman Kahn once said there are two periods in life when one’s ideas, attitudes, and convictions are powerfully shaped: before one is […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Marshall Dissents” Memo, Part 1
MEMORANDUM TO: Interested Parties FROM: AUL Legal Team DATE: May 26, 2010 RE: A Deeper Look at Marshall’s Dissents, Part I Elena Kagan has described Thurgood Marshall’s constitutional interpretation as “a thing of glory”[1] because he thought the role of the court was to “show a special solicitude for the despised and disadvantaged.”[2] While that […]
AUL’s Kagan File: The “Abortion Record” Memo
Click here for a PDF version of this memo. MEMORANDUM TO: [Undisclosed Parties] FROM: Americans United for Life Legal Team DATE: May 25, 2010 RE: Elena Kagan File: Kagan’s Problematic Abortion Record Backgrounder: Some have argued that Solicitor General Kagan managed to avoid a “paper trail” on abortion during her career; therefore, she will avoid […]
