No, Merrick Garland Is Not to the Left of Elena Kagan
March 18, 2016
A Daily Kos post by Kerry Eleveld (3/17/16) promises some good news for progressives concerned about Barack Obamas nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Under the headline, How Far Left Could Obamas Supreme Court Nominee Push the Supreme Court? Pretty Far, Eleveld writes:
Heres some good news for progressives: Scoring from four political scientists suggests that President Obamas Supreme Court nominee, DC Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland, would land to the left of six sitting justices, including Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer, who are both considered to be part of the courts liberal cohort. Only the notorious Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sonia Sotomayor score to the left of Garland according to their history of rulings
. So despite disappointment among many progressives with Obamas pick, if confirmed, Garland could potentially move the court further left than its been in half a century or more, reports the New York Times.
But Eleveld appears to have misread the New York Times feature (3/16/16) that places Garland to the left of Kagan and Breyer. The Martin/Quinn scores that are the basis for this ranking are based on how justices voted on Supreme Court rulings*; since Garland is not a Supreme Court justice, he doesnt have any votes to rank. Instead, as the New York Times (3/16/16) explained, Judge Garlands score is based on the score of his appointing president, Bill Clinton.
http://fair.org/home/no-merrick-garland-is-not-to-the-left-of-elena-kagan/
Nitram
(22,945 posts)...affirmative action, voting rights, campaign finance reform, government regulation of health insurance and others - he can be expected to vote the opposite of Scalia on almost anything.
SCantiGOP
(13,875 posts)In an earlier ruling he actually paid attention to the "well regulated militia" language in a 2nd amendment case.
elleng
(131,292 posts)the "well regulated militia" language that the Supremes ignored in Heller! Sounds like a good one to me!
Nitram
(22,945 posts)Even Scalia.