From Salon.com: Top GOP calls Kagan "dangerous" nominee for SCOTUS

The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is calling Elena Kagan "a dangerous, progressive, political" nominee for the Supreme Court.

Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama is warning fellow senators to "be careful" about backing President Barack Obama's nominee, who's expected to be confirmed easily next week.

He says Americans won't forgive senators who vote to "impose a legal progressive activist legislator from the bench upon them."

Sessions' latest and strongest speech denouncing Kagan comes shortly after Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine became the fourth Republican to announce she'd break with her party to support Obama's nominee.

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Kagan and Gay Marriage

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From the New York Times Op Ed:  

ELENA KAGAN uttered neither the word “gay” nor “marriage” in her opening statement at the Senate confirmation hearings on her nomination to the Supreme Court, but she addressed the issue nonetheless. No, she didn’t say how she will vote when gay marriage comes before the court, as it may soon. What she did say was this:

“The Supreme Court, of course, has the responsibility of ensuring that our government never oversteps its proper bounds or violates the rights of individuals. But the court must also recognize the limits on itself and respect the choices made by the American people.”

Ms. Kagan may not have had gay marriage in mind when she made that statement, but it could not be more relevant. She seems to be saying that protecting minority rights is the Supreme Court’s job description, but also that a civil rights claim doesn’t automatically trump majority preferences. This is something absolutists on both sides of the gay marriage debate don’t like to hear, but it has the virtue of being right.

While the Senate considers Ms. Kagan’s nomination, Judge Vaughn Walker of the United States District Court in San Francisco is deciding how to rule in a major lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that revoked and banned same-sex marriage in California (while leaving the state’s marriage-like domestic partner program intact). Judge Walker may declare that the United States Constitution gives gay couples the right to marry — a decision sure to start a political firestorm (possibly just in time to give the Democrats an additional headache in this year’s midterm elections). Whatever he decides is likely to be appealed, presumably up to the court that Ms. Kagan seems likely to join.

This case is not primarily about the merits of gay marriage. It is primarily about who gets to decide. The plaintiffs say marriage is a civil right, and when a civil right is assailed, the Supreme Court has no choice but to take command. If the Supreme Court doesn’t protect minority rights, it abdicates its job.

Proposition 8’s defenders retort that gay marriage is not a civil right, because it is not marriage, or not marriage as defined by most Californians. If the court does not defer to the voters’ wishes, it oversteps its bounds.

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American Spectator Brings Up Elena Kagan's Socialist Paper | NowPublic News Coverage

American Spectator Brings Up Elena Kagan's Socialist Paper | NowPublic News Coverage

CBS Rumor: Candidate for Supreme Court Justice is Gay?

Obama White House rips CBS News for rumor that Justice Candidate is Lesbian

CBS News was taken to task on Thursday by the Obama White House for publishing an online column by a blogger who posted about Solicitor General Elena Kagan, widely viewed as a leading candidate for the Supreme Court.  In the blog post,  it was asserted that Kagan was a lesbian,  and "openly gay".  

Ben Domenech, a former Bush administration aide and Republican Senate staffer, wrote that President Obama would "please" much of his base by picking the "first openly gay justice." An administration official, who asked not to be identified discussing personal matters, said Kagan is not a lesbian.

Source: washingtonpost.com

CBS initially refused to pull the posting, prompting Anita Dunn, a former White House communications director who is working with the administration on the high court vacancy, to say that CBS was enabling a plagarist and that their journalistic standards were dropping.  She also state that the lesbian rumor fed on old stereotypes about career women who remain single.  

The network deleted the posting Thursday night after Domenech, the blogger,  admitted to them that he was merely repeating a rumor. 

The incendiary nature of how a  Supreme Court nominee can feed the rumor mill was aptly illustrated by the incident.  Policies against "outing" gays or reporting on the sex lives of public officials unless  related to their public duties are adhered to by most major news venues.  

This year,  a flurry arose over the outing of Supreme Court Justice Vaughn Walker,  raising questions about his impartiality as he presided over the Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco's high court.   Any nominee for supreme court justice, or even a potential nominee,  has the power to start the rumor mill turning.  

"Still Closeted"  

Domenech later added an update to the post: "I have to correct my text here to say that Kagan is apparently still closeted -- odd, because her female partner is rather well known in Harvard circles."

Source: washingtonpost.com

Dan Farber, editor in chief of CBSNews.com, said that initially that the blog piece should stand,  as it was an opinion piece.  

He changed his mind about deleting the blog post after receiving an e-mail from Domenech, which the blogger also sent to The Washington Post admitting the assertion was speculation and apologized to Ms. Kagan. 

Domenech said that the naming of an openly gay justice would be an important cultural moment and would necessarily open the door to political discussion. 

Domenech is editor of the Web site ,  New Ledger, from which the CBS column was reprinted and acts as editor of the City, a religion-oriented publication of Houston Baptist University,  as well. 

Domenech was hired by the Post as a conservative blogger in 2006. He resigned three days after due to plagiarism allegations that made by liberal Web sites. The sites found signs of plagiarism in a  review written by Domenech for National Review Online and in early writings  for the College of William & Mary's student newspaper.

Marc Ambinder who writes for The Atlantic wrote Monday  "a baffling whisper campaign" about Kagan "among both gay rights activists and social conservatives. . . .",  adding that the rumors are so "pervasive"  that many believed they must contain some truth.