Who Says Kagan Lacks Substance?

Pundits have been lining up to slam the lack of substance at Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, but Adam Serwer at The American Prospect disagrees with their attacks: “Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearing has been the most substantive and interseting since the Clinton administration.” He says she’s “revealed a great deal about her legal philosophy by rejecting obtuse textualism, acknowledging that there are times when judges should privilege intent over the actual principle outlined in the Constitution, and arguing that while the constitution does not change, the circumstances we interpret it do.” She’s “clearly on the liberal side of legal philosophy,” though we won’t know if she’s more of a Larry Summers-style liberal or a Thurgood Marshall-style liberal until she’s on the bench.