Sunday shows: McCain, Graham, Dingell, DeMint

ABC This Week with Jake Tapper: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Dan Senor, Al Hunt and Cynthia Tucker.

Bloomberg Political Capital with Al Hunt: Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.).

CBS Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) with Peter Baker, Jan Crawford and Anne Kornblut.

CNN State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Said Tayeb Jawab, Afghanistan Ambassador to the U.S; Reps. John Boccieri (D-Ohio), Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Mike Coffman (R-Colo.).

CNN GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Niall Ferguson, Harvard University.

Fox News Sunday with Major Garrett: Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Henry Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Kenneth Feinberg, with Bill Kristol, Stephen Hayes, Nina Easton and Juan Williams.

NBC Meet the Press: No show this week.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images (McCain and Graham).

So you want to be on TV? Obama's nominee Elena Kagan is good with cameras in the Supreme Court

Can you hear the robed gasps seeping from the secretive Supreme Court building across the street?

This video of President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan from Tuesday's Senate confirmation hearing pretty much says it all. It comes, by the way, via TV cameras from within the Senate Judiciary Committee room. No reports yet of structural damage from such video access to the American psyche or democratic system.

Kagan has joined those Americans who think a TV camera in the nation's highest court for oral arguments would be good. Of course, in this case it doesn't really matter what the American people think; it matters what the nine court members think.

If Kagan gets confirmed, that's at least one:

I have said that I think it would be a terrific thing to have cameras in the courtroom ... I think it would be a great thing for the institution, and more important, I think it would be a great thing for the American people.

Hear what she says for yourself right here:

Court cameras wouldn't be bad for C-SPAN either, which graciously provided this video.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press (the Supreme Court).

Social nets wrap on the Supreme Court: Elena Kagan hearing and 2nd Amendment decision

 

Online reaction to the Elena Kagan Supreme court confirmation hearing:

The White House Supreme Court confirmation hearings have a rich history in America. This week, Elena Kagan takes her place in that history, with the Judiciary Committee holding hearings to evaluate her nomination.

Senate_GOPs: Kagan said today she'll "make no pledges" but she previously criticized SCOTUS hearings for being a "hollow charade" http://bit.ly/cddxoT

KenCalvert (California): House has no role in nomination of a Supreme Court Justice, but I am interested to hear Ms. Kagan's views on the limits on government power

SenatorCardin (Maryland) More Cardin at Kagan hrg: Every ruling made by #SCOTUS that upholds constitutional protections is a victory. http://tinyurl.com/25pk95a

fredthompson (former senator)  What I wish Kagan would say is her judicial philosophy: "Federal govt can't do what it wants simply because it WANTS to." #ftrs #tcot

Democratic Party Expect two things during Elena Kagan’s confirmation process, which begins today. You’ll see firsthand Kagan’s intellect and passion for the law, but you’ll also hear baseless claims and attacks on her independence from members of the other party.

Republican Senators Sen. Cornyn: Kagan’s Record Raises Questions About Her Commitment to Second Amendment Rights

Online reaction to the Supreme Court upholding a Chicago ban on handguns.

OrrinHatch (Utah): Today’s ruling is a victory 4 law-abiding gun owners & confirms the right to keep & bear arms is a fundamental right! #utpol

GOPLeader (John Boehner): 2nd Amendment Ruling Highlights Importance of Kagan’s Supreme Court Nomination http://bit.ly/cvDE93

SarahPalinUSA (Alaska): Important victory in defense of our 2nd Amendment rights http://is.gd/d7VJe

newtgingrich (former Speaker): The supreme court decision applying the 2d amendment right to bear arms to state and local government is a vital reaffirmation of liberty

RepKenMarchant (Texas): RT @GOPWhip: Statement on Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision on Second Amendment http://ow.ly/24gsM #tcot #ocra #gop

Marco Rubio (Florida): "Today’s Supreme Court ruling rightly reaffirms the constitutional right to keep and bear arms across America, regardless of where one resides. By striking down these unconstitutional laws, the court has correctly asserted that governments at all levels -- federal, state and local -- should be bound by this cornerstone constitutional right." Read Marco's full statement here: http://bit.ly/c4oTjA

Charlie Crist (Florida): Very pleased that the Supreme Court has reaffirmed our 2nd Amendment rights. Respecting the Constitution is critical to the continued well-being of all Americans.

Nan Hayworth (New York): The Supreme Court has struck down the Chicago handgun ban as unconstitutional. Well done, Your Honors!

JudgeCarter (Texas):  I'm glad the Supreme Court reaffirmed our Second Amendment rights. Are you?

Pete Hoekstra (Michigan): "Second Amendment and individual's rights protected today by the Supreme Court. Proud to have signed the Amicus Brief in support."

RasmussenPoll  From the archives…poll shows 69% agree with Supreme Court ruling on hand gun ownership... http://tinyurl.com/RR1693

RepMikeQuigley (Illinois): Chicago handgun ban struck down, another dangerous threat looms: the gun show loophole http://fb.me/DmOJcWCU

CongJoeWilson (South Carolina): For too long, our Constitutional right to bear arms has been inconsistently applied. I'm confident today's ruling will change that.

Patrick McHenry (North Carolina): Supreme Court made the right decision today, 2nd Amdt applies equally to fed govt & states. Sorry, Chicago. http://bit.ly/aWDpMb #guns

JerryMoran (Kansas):  Today's Supreme Court decision is another great victory for law-abiding gun owners. http://fb.me/xTpC6Xjl

Fred Thompson fredthompson   SCOTUS used 14th A. to apply 2nd A. to states & cities. First time I've ever seen liberals sad over an expansion of rights. #ftrs #tcot

-- Craig Howie

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Photo: Reuters

Two of these Obama Supreme Court nominees dress just like the other

So it seems there is a uniform code of justice apparel for female Obama White House Supreme Court nominees taking the oath for their confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It appears characterized by liberal use of blue and large black buttons.

First, came Sonia Sotomayor in 2009

And today comes Elena Kagan

Related Items:

Obama's uniform code of justice dress

Elena Kagan's opening statement -- text

Elena Kagan? Elena Kagan. Most Americans can't say they've ever heard of her

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Associated Press (Sotomayor); AFP / Getty Images (Kagan). 

Elena Kagan's opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee

Opening statement by Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, as provided by the White House

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Senator Sessions, and members of the Committee. I’d like to thank Senators Kerry and Brown for those generous introductions. I also want to thank the President again for nominating me to this position. I’m honored and humbled by his confidence.

Let me also thank all the members of the Committee, as well as many other Senators, for meeting with me in these last several weeks. I’ve discovered that they call these “courtesy visits” for a reason; each of you has been unfailingly gracious and considerate.

I know that we gather here on a day of sorrow for all of you, for this body, and for our nation, with the passing of Senator Byrd. I did not know him personally, as all of you did, but I certainly knew....

Elena Kagan? Elena Kagan. Most Americans can't say they know the name this morning

This is for the 81% of Americans who don't know who Elena Kagan is.

A new C-SPAN poll of 1,512 voters finds far more ignorance about this year's Barack Obama choice for the Supreme Court than last year's of Sonia Sotomayor. Kagan's Senate confirmation hearings start later today before the Judiciary Committee and national TV cameras.

Only 19% could name Kagan, who was Obama's solicitor general, less than half the 43% who could name Sotomayor at the start of her confirmation.

From a sales point of view, voter ignorance doesn't much matter on this issue, unless you're a senator. And given the high partisanship of some recent court confirmation hearings, not being widely known could be a good thing for the Democratic White House. While Kagan's been on Capitol Hill all chatty with key senators in recent weeks, most of the country has been focused on the gulf coast.

Sixty-four percent in the C-SPAN poll don't care what a nominee's gender is. However, 63% think the court has quite enough Ivy League law school graduates -- Harvard, Yale, Columbia -- and did we mention the president's law school Harvard? Those three schools produced all eight incumbent justices plus Kagan, its one-time dean.

Other than that the court's educational mix is just super.

With the national approval of Congress in the dumpster and the president's numbers sliding still, 48% told C-SPAN they think the court is the government branch best serving the public interest.

Having said that in this the Year of the Grumpy Voter, only 29% think the court is doing an excellent or good job.

Slightly more than one-third (38%) support Kagan's nomination; almost one third (30%) do not. The other third don't care enough to have an opinion. Or maybe they're trying to find coverage of the ongoing gulf oil spill that's virtually vanished from the media coverage fashion world.

About the same proportion of voters as in recent years -- two-thirds -- supports televised oral arguments in the court, according to the C-SPAN poll.

And you'll never guess which public affairs cable networks named C-SPAN would be eager to televise said arguments. (Speaking of which, C-SPAN3 will carry the Senate hearings live starting this afternoon.)

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Sunday shows: Petraeus, Panetta, Sessions, Feinberg

ABC This Week with Jake Tapper: CIA Director Leon Panetta.with George Will, Robin Wright, David Sanger and Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

Bloomberg Political Capital with Al Hunt: Kenneth Feinberg, claims administrator on BP oil spill.

CBS Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer: Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Carl Levin (D-MI).

CNN GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Eliot Spitzer, Arianna Huffington and Ross Douthat.

CNN State of the Union with Candy Crowley: Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace: Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee plus panel of Bill Kristol, Liz Cheney, Juan Williams and Mara Liasson. Additionally, Sunday morning at 7 a.m. Pacific (10 Eastern) Geraldo at Large will have a one-hour interview with Gen. David Petraeus, the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

NBC Meet the Press with David Gregory: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Sebastian Junger, Tom Ricks and Gen. Barry McCaffrey.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press (Petraeus and McCain).

Socialism and the Supreme Court -- Kagan, Roberts and the search for college papers

As the Senate Judiciary committee readies confirmation hearings on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, the White House has decided to release her 1981 Princeton University senior thesis. Why? Because the conservative blog redstate.com tried to make an issue of it, arguing that the thesis proves her socialist sympathies.

The 130-page thesis, entitled “To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933,” argues:

In our own times, a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States. Americans are more likely to speak of a golden past than of a golden future, of capitalism's glories than of socialism's greatness. Conformity overrides dissent; the desire to conserve has overwhelmed the urge to alter.

Such a state of affairs cries out for explanation. Why, in a society by no means perfect, has a radical party never attained the status of a major political force? Why, in particular, did the socialist movement never become an alternative to the nation's established parties?

Noting the internal back-stabbing that felled the socialist political movement in New York, Kagan....

Recalling how a Supreme Court justice, when discussing illegal immigration, used an ethnic slur

Arizona’s tough new law to combat illegal immigration has prompted all sorts of chatter -- passionate and emotional, analytical and angry. With all that chatter, it might have been easy to miss a jaw-dropping anecdote about a future Supreme Court chief justice tossing about an ethnic slur.

The anecdote comes to us from the always insightful Times columnist Tim Rutten. In a commentary about the possible impact of Arizona’s new law -- which was written by state Sen. Russell Pearce. Rutten recalled how the Supreme Court deliberated an earlier case concerning undocumented immigrants.

We’ll let Rutten take it from here:

Anti-immigrant groups already are lining up in support of Pearce because, if passed, his new bill might give them a chance to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Plyler v. Doe, a 1982 ruling that struck down Texas' attempt to deny public education to undocumented immigrant children. The Plyler decision is a bete noir to many conservatives, who regard Justice William Brennan's opinion on behalf of the 5-4 majority as a kind of high-water mark of judicial activism.

Pearce and his supporters are fishing in particularly angry and ugly waters with this new initiative, for the court's deliberations on Plyler took an unusually personal turn. According to Brennan's notes, at one point during their conference on the case, Justice William H. Rehnquist, the future chief justice, referred to the plaintiffs as “wetbacks.” When an angry Thurgood Marshall objected to the slur, Rehnquist -- who had practiced law in Arizona for nearly 20 years -- replied that the term was commonly used where he came from. Unappeased, Marshall demanded an apology, comparing it to the vulgar epithet for blacks to which he'd been personally subjected. Rehnquist declined to back down.

Commonly used. Well, other offensive terms -- for the Irish, Italians, Jews and African Americans -- have been commonly used at various points in the country’s history too. Follow this link for Rutten's column.

-- Steve Padilla

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Photo: William H. Rehnquist in 2003. Credit: Associated Press

Elena Kagan confirmation fight plays out on YouTube

The political fight over Solicitor General Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court is going virtual.

One day after President Obama nominated Kagan, Vice President Biden said she was "the right age," hinting at one of the factors that led to her selection. At 50, Kagan would be the youngest justice on the court -- if confirmed.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But the "if confirmed" part will require negotiating some tricky politics.

To prepare for the battle, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee used their own YouTube channel to launch an information dump on Kagan.

Stephen Miller, a spokesman for Judiciary Republicans, told CNN the YouTube channel would be used as a "hub of information for the public, a resource, a place for the exchange of ideas and a place for a national discussion the senator is planning to foster during the course of the current Supreme Court nomination." The videos feature interviews of Alabama's Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican on the committee.

Not to be outdone, Senate Democrats also unveiled their YouTube version on Monday, featuring video of Vermont's Patrick Leahy, committee chairman, extolling Kagan's virtues. And the Judiciary Committee unloaded a vast acreage of material on its website about Kagan's confirmation hearings for solicitor general, complete with past writings and the committee questionnaire.

At least they're not killing trees for this.

-- Johanna Neuman

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