When I ran across a posting on CNN.com from David Axelrod earlier today saying that the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had told Axelrod he wanted a liberal to replace then-retiring Justice David Souter, I had to read it twice and make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.
Nope, my eyes were working fine, and Axelrod reports that in 2009, at the White House Correspondents Dinner, he and Justice Scalia were discussing who might replace Souter, and Scalia commented:
“I have no illusions that your man will nominate someone who shares my orientation. But I hope he sends us someone smart.”
Axelrod recalls that he replied this way to Scalia:
“I’m sure he will, Justice Scalia.”
Finally, Scalia leaned in and told Axelrod:
“Let me put a finer point on it. I hope he sends us Elena Kagan.”
At the time, Kagan was serving as Solicitor General for the Obama Administration. She would indeed later become a member of the high court, but not in 2009. Instead, the choice to replace Souter was Sonia Sotomayor. the first Hispanic to ever sit on the Supreme Court.
However, in 2010, Scalia did get his wish when President Obama chose Kagan to replace John Paul Stevens, one of the most progressive members of the court.
Axelrod also noted this about Scalia asking for Kagan:
“I was surprised that a member of the court would so bluntly propose a nominee, and intrigued that it was Kagan, the former Harvard Law School dean who was appointed solicitor general by Obama to represent the government before the Supreme Court. Though she had worked on policy in the Clinton administration and had a reputation for pragmatism, Kagan plainly would be a liberal in the context of the court.”
And once she joined the high court, Kagan was also invited by Scalia to join him in one of his favorite pasttimes: hunting. Axelrod writes:
“During her confirmation meetings with senators, Kagan had vowed to go hunting to allay their concerns about her cultural awareness on the issue of guns. When she joined the court, she asked her friend, Scalia, to take her. The two, who occasionally shot intellectual darts at each other on paper, became regular, if unlikely, hunting partners.”
I have to admit, I was never a fan of Justice Scalia, but knowing how he felt about Justice Kagan and how he treated her once she arrived on the court does give me a new perspective on this complex man.
Featured Image Via Mother Jones
