News Release

Coons Comments on Kagan Supreme Court Nomination

For Immediate Release: May 10, 2010 at 5:41 pm

NEW CASTLE – Chris Coons, New Castle County Executive and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, commented today on President Obama nominating United States Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court.

“President Obama, in nominating Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, has chosen someone with an exceptional legal background and a diverse resume that has been grounded in public service. Ms. Kagan possesses impressive and unique credentials for a Supreme Court nominee, and I believe her judicial philosophy on the bench will respect precedent.

“It is fitting that the woman that argued the government’s position in Citizens United now finds herself poised to replace the man that wrote the dissenting opinion. I am concerned about the undue influence the proliferation of corporate funds may have in our elections, and like Justice Stevens, I believe the ruling, ‘threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions….’

“I hope the confirmation process is thorough, thoughtful, civil, and as Ms. Kagan has already received a number of confirmation votes from Senate Republicans in this Congress, that it will culminate in an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.”

Kagan, who if confirmed would be the fourth female justice in the history of the Supreme Court, has been a legal professor at the University of Chicago Law School, an Associate White House Counsel under President Clinton, Dean of Harvard Law School, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Solicitor General with 61 votes on March 19, 2009.