marshall, et cetera. so i m not quite sure what the deal is. this is an incredibly qualified woman. just to give you historical perspective, 40 of the 111 supreme court justices in history have had no judicial experience. as the vice president joe biden just mentioned, chief justice william renquist was among them. joining me now from washington, d.c. luke russert with today s hill say. the question, not just how difficult will this confirmation battle be, who is most frustrated with the pick? it seems as many liberal groups are upset by this as conservatives? it s interesting you mention this. because the right and left are not 100% completely satisfied with this pick, folks i ve spoken to close to the white house said that s what they are trying to go for, someone middle of the road and a consensus bridge builder. expect to hear that about elena kagan in the next few weeks coming from the white house, pragmatic, bridge builder, someone that can bridge the
elena kagan has a stealthy record. on those matters where she s been vocal, clear she s indulged her policy preferences. you refer to the solomon amendment, excluded military recruiters from campus during wartime at the same time gave access to law firms detaining guantanamo. you have someone supposedly picked because of real life experience but there isn t much experience to speak of in terms of real life. no judicial experience o. the lack of judicial experience already from at least her supporters been shot down because they point to justice william renquist, the chief justice. he had no judicial experience. there s no question there have been justices before
long played a crucial role shaping the court s decisions. some of the great justices in american history like justice sandra day o connor, who had been in the arizona legislature, or justice louis brandeis, hugo black, defender of the first amendment, who had been a u.s. senator, were not federal judges before they were nominated to the u.s. supreme court. chief justice william renquist had never been a federal judge before he was first nominated to the supreme court. chief justice warren who came to the supreme court with real world experience as a state attorney general and governor recognized the power of a unanimous decision in the supreme court s rejection of racial discrimination and inequality of brown versus board
harvard law degree. three others yale. i should say four others yale. clearly that s an ivy league background. judicial monastery, talking about being a judge. it is true elena kagan has not been a judge. the first nonjudge in 40 years as william renquist. as people point out william renquist went on to be chief justice and he was not a judge, so that wasn t a problem. the president wanted real life experience, excellence, experience, integrity, a passion for the law. he characterized her as a trailblazer, not only the first woman dean of the harvard law school but first solicitor general. she s admired for temperament. this white house has telegraphed for several weeks elena kagan was probably the president s first choice for this position. it was interesting as they rolled this out to try to humanize her and relate to the
many people s lives. shepard: if the president gets his way kagan will no longer stand before the supreme court justice. instead she will sit beside them as a colleague. even though the senate confirmed kagan for current position, some republican lawmakers are warning of a renewed focus on her career she has never served as a judge. i m not suggesting that anyone has ever had to serve as a judge to serve as a justice even though that s a good expersonal basis for it her experience is pretty thin. practicing law only for a couple of years, for example. i have urged the president to look outside the judicial monastery and i told the president i was glad to see he did. shepard: it s worth noting here owe nominees have become justices divide never having become judges the last time was 1927 with richard nixon s nominees who included a man named william renquist.