White House to Release Kagan's Thesis, other Documents

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The White House is planning on releasing Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's two college theses, according to reports, in the wake of questions about what her college work might reveal about her ideological leanings.

Right-wing blogs have pounced on the subject of the thesis Kagan wrote as an undergraduate at Princeton in 1981, entitled, "To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933." The conservative site RedState.com first published the thesis, but Princeton -- which charges $57 for a copy of the thesis, according to RedState blogger Erick Erickson -- asked for the document to be removed from the Web, citing copyright laws.

Now, however, the White House plans to make the paper available, as well as the thesis Kagan wrote at Oxford, Politico reports.

"These documents were not specifically requested by the Judiciary Committee in the questionnaire, but demonstrating our commitment to transparency, they will be made available to the committee and the public regardless," a White House official reportedly said.

The White House on Saturday also asked for the prompt release of 160,000 pages of other documents related to Kagan's career for the Senate Judiciary Committee to review. White House lawyer Bob Bauer reportedly sent a letter to the National Archives, asking for the speedy release of documents related to Kagan's work in the Clinton administration, including her e-mail.

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Newsweek's Seth Colter Walls called Kagan's Princeton thesis "an evenhanded assessment" of New York's Socialist Party in the early 20th century.

Nevertheless, after Erickson published the thesis on his site, other conservative commentators followed his lead in questioning whether the thesis proved Kagan's own inclinations toward socialism.

"This proves Elena Kagan is an open and avowed socialist," Erickson wrote. "The woman declares that socialists must stick together instead of fracture in order to advance a socialist agenda, which Kagan advocates."

The conservative-leaning Daily Caller highlights that "in her conclusion [Kagan] expressed disappointment that 'labor radicalism' had failed to gain political prominence."

Fox News host Sean Hannity said on his show, "The administration may also have been a fan of Kagan's senior thesis in which she explored the history of the socialist movement here in the U.S. So is this just another Obama radical being elevated to the highest levels of our government?"

[wtcmedicdidntforget]

Any chance we can see Obamas writting now?

[Berkeley-SkirtLifter]

""You people are oput of your freaken skulls.""

Not really dude. The point is that unmitigated Liberty equals anarchy. The point is, as MurdochSucks elucidates, that a 'black and white', legal - illegal, all or nothing, perspective doesn't work. Your liberties go only so far. Gov't intervention can only go so far. You have to balance social programs without punishing entrepreneurial spirit. The point is that people are polarizing their perspectives and this won't work. We need a little of both ingredients for a tasty gov't pie.

cya

[jgg000101]

every country has social programs ie. libraries, police, fire dept.
What you are defending is socialism and what you are referring to social programs are entitlement programs. I stand by my former comment:
You and your little socialist buddy are out of your freaken minds.
Move to cuba or north korea.

[-SkirtLifter-]

jgg000101,

You did not understand either post. It's unfortunate that your mind is clouded with strong polar opinions that can NOT be budged. If you really cared to look, you'd see that I was defending capitalism and free market principles even tho recent corruptive forces have blemished these ideas.

l8r.

[-SkirtLifter-]

It's unfair to release all she has written. People's view points change with time. Plus, advocates are going to take snippets and use them out of context and detractors will glom onto bits and pieces to fit their agenda. If it's fair to release all of her academic writing, what about the POTUS's? It seems like TMI to me.

As far as socialism is concerned, get used to it. Socialism has been a mainstay of our governmental practices for a long time, it's not leaving. Socialism as a philosophy has been tried many times throughout history. If you know history, you know how well it works. Capitalism and laissez faire market theory has been tried as far back as the 1600's. We see how corruption seeps in and this experiment fails also, as with our recent recession.

Pure capitalism results in one winner and 6 billion losers. Socialist, communist, marxist and every other ist fails eventually. But it is not a systemic flaw that collapses the system, it's human frailty and imperfection that ultimately causes a gov't to fail. Our greed, avarice, cronyism, and other "deadly sins" inoculate our systems of gov't, eventually causing decay.

So please, quit focusing on Kagan's political leanings. Whether she has a socialist affinity or not really doesn't matter. What matters is a sense of decorum, decency, fairness, and an understanding / respect for law. And if she can avoid the trappings of power, these are the crux.

I have many friends that are so miffed at the recent Wall street shenanigans, they would gladly surrender some of their constitutionally protected liberties and freedoms for a little help from big brother. The gov't watchdog was asleep or in bed with the burglar. So now they want to throw entrepreneurial ideas, capitalism, tax breaks for business, laissez faire market theories, and other "conservative" principles aside. They want to try the full on socialism experiment here in the USA.

Many posters here seem to be on the same side as my friends. In some ways, in many ways, I don't blame them. Corruption in the last 10 years trumped conservative principles and gave said principles a black eye. (although it's certainly not all a conservative induced corruption, plenty of libs had a hand in it)

Bottom line: Kagan's political leanings, social agenda, or past writings have less of an impact on how she will be as a judge than her humanity. How she is a person, her respect for law, and an aversion to activism will ultimately decide how she will perform as a judge.

I think we may have taken our eye off of the ball when it comes to forming opinions on our political figures. Yall have a good day.

[MurdochSucks]

Goodness, that was a good post, SkirtLifter. Especially from somebody named SkirtLifter. ;-)

I agree, people try to live by such absolute, black or white, principles. Wild West Capitalism is dangerous and leads to monarchy, or at least an aristocracy. Some levels of socialist policies are good. The only entity big enough to regulate the large industries of today are government agencies. That being said, as we are emerging into a global economy, a single shift toward Free Market Capitalism, and eventually Fascism is very dangerous, so I would prefer we move more to a reasonably regulated capitalist system, including tariffs and the complete dismantle of Free Trade, which has robbed the middle class. I agree with you that it seems our government has been inept, or outright corrupt, lately. It is hard to instill a lot of faith in them, but it may be our only chance. Do you trust a politician that you can vote out, or a multinational corporation that you could be enslaved by to ensure your best interests?

In any case, what you said was very eloquent, astute, and interesting.

[jgg000101]

"socialism.. get used to it"? "I have many friends who would gladly give up constitutional liberties for a little help from big brother"?
You people are oput of your freaken skulls. Seriously, go live in cuba or north korea. Personally, I don't plan on giving up any more of my constitutional liberties, and I'll take responsibilty for me, and my family.