Liberal Perspectives on the Kagan Supreme Court Nomination

Alliance for Justice was in Las Vegas for the fifth annual Netroots Nation conference, a gathering of progressive bloggers, activists, organizations, and leaders. Alliance for Justice sponsored the panel, Liberal Perspectives on the Kagan Supreme Court Nomination, a conversation with Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD); Keith Kamisugi, Director of Communications at the Equal Justice Society; Pam Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and founding director of the school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic; Nan Aron, President and founder of Alliance for Justice; and Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor and legal correspondent for Slate, with Joan McCarter, Senior Policy Director at Daily Kos, moderating.

The panel provided a fascinating conversation about the Kagan confirmation hearing, liberal judicial philosophy, and a progressive vision of the constitution. In addition to being an amazing panel, audience members encouraged Joan McCarter, who moderated the Ask the Leader session with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), to ask Senator Reid about the pace of judicial confirmations. The next day she did ask the question, which was received with much applause by the audience. Unfortunately it seems that time is running out before the August recess and with Republican obstruction running rampant, Reid could only promise to try his best to schedule votes for the 22 judicial nominees in addition to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan awaiting final confirmation.

You can watch the full video of the panel here:

Happy 30th Birthday Alliance for Justice!

Hundreds of supporters gathered today to celebrate 30 years in which Alliance for Justice has been leading the fight for a more equitable society on behalf of a broad constituency of environmental, consumer, civil and women’s rights, children’s, senior citizens’ and other groups.

The Vision for Justice luncheon featured keynote speakers Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor and Legal Correspondent for Slate, and Gara LaMarche, President and CEO of The Atlantic Philanthropies. Elmy Bermejo, Director of the Latino Issues Forum, was Master of Ceremonies, and of course, Nan Aron, President and Founder of Alliance for Justice gave remarks.

Dahlia Lithwick’s speech looked at President Obama’s use of “empathy” as a qualification for judicial nominees. She defended the term and asked progressives to see it not as something that looks soft and squishy, the opposite of rigor and objectivism. We should embrace the term since it does not mean bias, it does not mean sympathy, it simply means being able to "stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes." We recommend her excellent column on this topic in Slate.

Gara LaMarche spoke eloquently about the situation of our courts in this country and encouraged all of us to help “the arc of the moral universe bend towards justice” by fighting every day against injustice.

Click here to watch AFJ's 30th anniversary video presentation.

If you’d like to say Happy Birthday to AFJ, click here.