Tobacco.org

• Obama’s Choice for Solicitor General Has Left a Breach in a Long Paper Trail  

The New Republic called Elena Kagan a “wonderwonk” for her work on tobacco legislation in the Clinton administration. She was, the magazine said, “a nerd who can talk tough.”

Justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom she served as a law clerk, called her, Ms. Kagan once wrote, “to my face and I imagine also behind my back, ‘Shorty.’ ”

And if she is confirmed by the Senate, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will welcome Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court lectern as “General Kagan,” the first female solicitor general.

The solicitor general, who is the only federal official required by statute to be “learned in the law” and is sometimes referred to informally as “the 10th justice,” supervises appellate litigation involving the federal government and presents the government’s views to the Supreme Court.

Ms. Kagan, 48, is dean of Harvard Law School. She has a powerful and varied résumé and has produced a substantial paper trail. But she has provided few clues about where she stands on the great legal issues of the day, notably the Bush administration’s broad assertions of unilateral executive power in areas like detention, surveillance, interrogation and rendition.

Jump to full article »