Solicitor General Kagan started out the day defending her late mentor Justice Thurgood Marshall after yesterday’s GOP attacks. It’s odd that she even had to go there. Dana Milbank’s column in the Post this morning explains it well:

It was, to say the least, a curious strategy to go after Marshall, the iconic civil rights lawyer who successfully argued Brown vs. Board of Education. Did Republicans think it would help their cause to criticize the first African American on the Supreme Court, a revered figure who has been celebrated with an airport, a postage stamp and a Broadway show? The guy is a saint — literally. Marshall this spring was added to the Episcopal Church’s list of "Holy Women and Holy Men," which the Episcopal Diocese of New York says "is akin to being granted sainthood."

With Kagan’s confirmation hearings expected to last most of the week, Republicans may still have time to make cases against Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Gandhi.

I had thought Republicans had learned their lesson after their first Marshall-based attacks on Kagan were met with a collective “Huh?”
 

UPDATE: Brian Beutler over at Talking Points Memo asked three top Republicans on the Judiciary Committee which Marshall cases they objected to. They couldn’t name a single one.