This afternoon, Senators Jeff Sessions and Jon Kyl criticized Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan for having expressed personal opinions in memos she wrote as a clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall. The senators criticized Kagan for having described policies as “sensible” and “well-intentioned” and for having on multiple occasions used the phrases “I think” and “I believe.”

Kyl said: “The problem with these bench memos is that they reveal, time and time again, an effort to reach a certain result in the case.”

Michael B. Keegan, President of People For the American Way, responded:

“Senators Sessions and Kyl have apparently reached a new level of desperation in their effort to smear Elena Kagan, making petty claims that rely on the same ridiculous double standard that they have embraced throughout the confirmation process.

“If the Senators object to ‘results-oriented’ judging, perhaps they should look into the records of Justices Roberts and Alito, who in cases like Citizens United v. FEC and Ledbetter v. Goodyear, have gone out of their way to overturn established law and make new rules in order to achieve their desired results.

“The Roberts Court has been aggressively pushing its own political agenda at the expense of the rights of individual Americans.  Senators Kyl and Sessions seem very happy with the results they’ve gotten from a far-right Court. They need to find a new talking point.”

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