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January 5, 2009
HLS Dean Elena Kagan to be nominated for US Solicitor General
Thanks to my status as an alum of the Harvard Law School, I just got big news via a "personal" e-mail from current HLS Dean Elena Kagan. Here is the first part of the text of the e-mail:
I am writing to all of you — the community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Harvard Law School — to let you know that today President-elect Barack Obama will announce his intention to nominate me to serve as Solicitor General of the United States. If confirmed by the Senate, I will resign the deanship of the Law School and take a leave of absence from the faculty.
I have accepted this nomination because it offers me the opportunity, working under the leadership of the President-elect and his nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder, to help advance this nation's commitment to the rule of law at what I think is a critical time in our history. I am honored and grateful, awestruck and excited, to be asked to contribute to this most important endeavor. And perhaps, for me, it adds a special touch of sweetness to the occasion that the person making the nomination, in whose capacity for greatness I deeply believe, is himself a member of the group to which I am writing.
Some related posts:
- How much can and will the "tenth justice" influence sentencing jurisprudence?
- Two great new data reports from the US Sentencing Commission
- How a new administration is likely to impact federal sentencing practice
- Why federal sentencing reformers must focus on the USSC and lower courts
- Are we on the verge of a new changed era concerning federal sentencing law and policy?
- Any early federal sentencing thoughts on Eric Holder, the next U.S. Attorney General?
- My latest (academic?) musings about progressive punishment perspectives
-
What might 2009 have in store for . . . the federal judiciary and its criminal caseload?
January 5, 2009 at 11:27 AM | Permalink
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Comments
HLS has become a machine...How many people do they churn out there each year now - 500? And how many of them are "law review editors," btw?
They should start a choir...so many of the alums go on to specialize in singing their own praises.
Posted by: | Jan 5, 2009 1:17:51 PM
I agree. Had Obama graduated from any other law school, Dean Kagan would be able to see his election as President of the United States for the pedestrian non-accomplishment that it truly is.
Similarly, it's only Prof. Berman's partisan blindness that causes him to think that being tapped as the next Solicitor General deserves anything other than indifference.
* * *
The job of a dean is to promote his/her law school, and Dean Kagan seems to be doing that admirably.
Not everyone from Harvard is great or destined for greatness, and Harvard has its share of arrogance, but what's even worse is the petty jealousy of non-Harvardians that causes them to claim that any mention of Harvard by one of its alumni is a show of arrogance.
I didn't go to Harvard, but I can acknowledge that Obama's announcement is an honor for Kagan and that the tone and substance of the letter is entirely appropriate for a communication from the dean of the law school to an audience of its alumni.
Posted by: | Jan 5, 2009 6:50:37 PM
