Kagan Has No Problem Asking Questions During Oral Arguments
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. once confessed that he had a hard time finding an opening to ask questions in oral arguments during his early months on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justice Elena Kagan isn’t having the same difficulty, USA Today reports. She offers “sharp practical queries” and picks up on other justices’ questions. “Wearing her black robe without adornment, she enters the fray without stepping on other justices’ lines,” the story says. “In fact, she makes use of them.”
The newspaper quotes several of Kagan’s questions, including these:
• In a case on a law restricting the sale of violent video games to minors: “You think Mortal Kombat is prohibited by this statute?” In another question, she asked why there was a First Amendment issue when video games are “the modern-day equivalent of Monopoly sets.”
• In a constitutional challenge to an Arizona tax credit program that helps pay tuition for students at religious schools: Kagan took issue with an argument by the man who replaced her, acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal, when he sought to limit a prior decision allowing taxpayer standing. Kagan asserted his interpretation was “silly and fictional,” according to previous reports, and would mean that the Supreme Court had been without authority to decide five cases involving church-state claims.
