Phil Giraldi makes an excellent observation on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan in his Antiwar.com column today:
New Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has described retired Israeli Judge Aharon Barak as her “judicial hero.” Barak is sometimes described as a liberal, but a review of his decisions reveals that he has always sided with the Israeli government in cases where arbitrary behavior by the state was being challenged. He also established the legal guidelines that enabled torture by the Israeli authorities. Kagan herself is of a like mind, favoring government prerogatives, executive privilege and secrecy even when there is no clear legal reason to deny access to information. In one recent case Kagan successfully argued that the Supreme Court should overturn a New York appeals court ruling to permit the release of photographs of foreign prisoners being abused by their American captors. The American Civil Liberties Union argued for the release of the photos while Obama and the Pentagon against. Kagan, in her role as solicitor general, argued that US military personnel would be endangered if the photos were to become public.
If there has been a groundswell of criticism of Kagan’s tacit embrace of torture, I have missed it.
The Sunbeams For the Unitary Executive, with their pollyanna authoritarian mindset insist that their aims are always toward protecting the citizen. They claim the big bad wold needs a strapping government to protect the little feller. Meanwhile, the Big Strapping Government does not have a particularly good history of caring much for the nettlesome little guy once it has consolidated power, entrenched its imperial ambitions and developed the civil-military programs with which it invariably occupies itself with like a mammoth
parasite. Tribute and Backsheesh are the primary aim and the little folk, well…they aint the cash cow that the Government Run Bunko is. Not that they don’t bleed the little guy with alacrity.
But, at this stage, its all smiles, the epaulettes, jack boots and riding crop have not come out yet and so everyone smiles smugly and claims best intentions.
Confirmation Hearings are held but in reality, it is a show providing the packaged gloss for the maintenance of the Security Regime.