Senator Barack Obama said the following about the Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court according to Greg Sargent in The Plum Line (Washington Post) in 2005:
Harriet Miers has had a distinguished career as a lawyer, but since her experience does not include serving as a judge, we have yet to know her views on many of the critical constitutional issues facing our country today. In the coming weeks, we’ll need as much information and forthright testimony from Ms. Miers as possible so that the U.S. Senate can make an educated and informed decision on her nomination to the Supreme Court.
To comply with the Obama Standard, the Senate should be provided with information, through testimony and documents, to allow the Senate to properly assess Kagan’s views on “many of the critical constitutional issues facing our country today.” Elena Kagan wrote in 1995 that:
When the Senate ceases to engage nominees in a meaningful discussion of legal issues, the confirmation process takes on an air of vacuity and farce, and the Senate becomes incapable of either properly evaluating nominees or appropriately educating the public.
Both the Obama and Kagan Standard should be followed by the Senate during the confirmation process of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the high court.
