Analysis of the Sonia Sotomayor factor in the November 2010 midterm elections.

Former Solicitor General Elena Kagan, now a part-time Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, has already recused herself from half the cases the Court will decide this term. This means those cases are much more likely to favor the decision handed down by the lower court, since a tie favors the previous victor but doesn’t set precedent.

Weekly Pulse: Uncovered Abortions, Toxic Mani-Pedis, and Kagan’s a Go

by Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger

Last week, the Obama administration preemptively caved to the anti-choice lobby by declaring that new high-risk insurance pools, a byproduct of recent health care legislation, will not cover abortions, even if states or patients pay for that coverage with their own money. Under health care reform, states must create high-risk insurance pools for people with preexisting conditions. These pools will be phased out in 2014 when the new insurance exchange comes online.

As Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan begins her second week of confirmation hearings, Mother Jones’ Stephanie Mencimer wonders why the anti-abortion protesters have been uncharacteristically subdued this time around. Normally, they live for these hearings. For hardcore anti-choice activists, a Supreme Court confirmation is like Christmas, Mardi Gras, and the World Cup all rolled into one.

The Kagan hearings made it seem like robots, not human beings, make the best Supreme Court justices.

During the July 4th celebrations peak your attention. Patriotism will almost exclusively=Military Might. You will see flags coupled with soldiers, arms and awesome aerial displays. Please contact me if you see the flag wed to social workers, teachers, nurses, or peace activists.

Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings kicked off on Monday. Her nomination has been met by glum resignation on the left and indifference on the right, as Adam Serwer notes in the American Prospect. Kagan is hoping to replace the Supreme Court’s most prominent liberal, Justice John Paul Stevens, who stepped down earlier this week. Progressives are counting on Kagan to shore up the pro-choice faction on the court.

Scarecrow, commenting on emptywheel’s post on the Kagan hearings, has shown us the way to deal with juggernauts of all kinds. Problems of mythic proportions demand commensurate responses, right? Since it’s the power of perverted narratives that has gotten us into this Waste Land, simply by recognizing and reclaiming that power, we can get the Hell out of *here.*

Thurgood Marshall is an American hero, not a political punch line–it’s time for Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to acknowledge as much.

Sen. Sessions is dumbing down debate by trotting out the tired old judicial activist slogan. Will Democrats finally take the opportunity to explain what Supreme Court justices really do when they decide cases?