Elena Kagan will be confirmed as the next justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. But I wish the Senate would withhold approval. If she believes it is inappropriate to comment on the issues that might come before her, then the Senate should respond by doing likewise: Refusing to vote on a candidate who can’t respond to simple questions fairly put.
The confirmation process is, as Kagan so aptly noted long ago, vapid. It is also a farce. The president nominates a candidate with whom he is comfortable, and then sends the candidate along to the Senate for confirmation. But the current manner of conducting these hearings transforms them into a meaningless beauty contest. Just how composed can a candidate remain while saying nothing at all?
