Recently released e-mails between then Solicitor General (and current Supreme Court Justice) Elena Kagan and a high ranking Department of Justice official have revealed that these senior officials understood that the Executive Order signed by President Obama was simply for show and carried no real weight. This revelation has increased the calls for Justice Kagan to recuse herself as the Supreme Court considers whether key provisions of the healthcare reform law are constitutional
“I hear they have the votes, Larry!!” wrote Kagan to Harvard Prof. Laurence Tribe (then serving in the DOJ) in an e-mail obtained by CNS News through the Freedom of Information Act.
“And with the Stupak group accepting the magic of what amounts to a signing statement on steroids,” Tribe responded.
US Law requires that a Supreme Court Justice recuse from any proceeding in which his or her partiality might be questioned. These e-mails make clear that Elena Kagan was an enthusiastic supporter of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) while Congress was still deliberating over it. This suggests that Justice Kagan is obliged to recuse herself from this case. Her partiality is not simply being called into question (which would be reason enough to recuse) but her bias has been made glaringly apparent.
The release of these e-mails also demonstrates that senior Obama officials knew that the Executive Order (the promise of which secured “Yes” votes for the health care bill from former Reps. Bart Stupak, Steve Driehaus and their cohorts) was absolutely worthless. While this has long been voiced by pro-lifers, many on the other side have maintained that that was not the case. This revelation affirms that the Executive Order was no more than a staged photo opportunity and not worth the paper it was printed on. This charade was meant to win over the so-called “pro-life” Democrats—and it succeeded.
Hopefully, Justice Kagan will accept the calls for her to recuse herself. Her bias is so blatant that any attempt to appear impartial is, at this point, laughable. The released e-mails will also, hopefully, renew the commitment to end, once and for all, taxpayer funding for abortion.
(Hat Tap to Thomas Peters at the Live Action Blog!)
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