49 Lawmakers Call for Judiciary Committee Investigation

Terence P. Jeffrey at CNS News:

Forty-nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives–including the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, the chairman of the Republican Policy Committee and two presidential candidates–are pointing to evidence they say is “contradictory” to Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s confirmation testimony and calling for the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the matter.

Oh, really.

“Contradictory to her 2010 confirmation testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently released Department of Justice (DOJ) documents indicate that Justice Kagan actively participated with her Obama Administration colleagues in formulating a defense of PPACA,” the letter said.

It’s an interesting accusation, because if true it would indeed contradict Justice Kagan’s testimony during her confirmation hearing. Fortunately it’s an accusation that should be fairly easy to demonstrate. If she did have an active role in “formulating a defense of PPACA” she should recuse herself. Certainly the Democrats have no choice but to agree. After all, back in February 84 members of congress asked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself¹ from this same case simply because his wife works for the Heritage Foundation, an organization which itself has opposed the health care bill.

Notice the difference in the way the Republicans and Democrats handled two similar situations. Back in February, the Democrats wrote a—rather demeaning—letter to Justice Thomas personally asking him to recuse himself and even stated “If the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision is to be viewed as legitimate by the American people, this is the only correct path”. The Republicans have thusfar only asked for an investigation into Kagan’s apparent contradictory testimony and her involvement in formulating a defense for PPACA. They didn’t jump to any conclusions and demand that she recuse herself.

In any event, something tells me the Republicans are going to have to turn the afterburners on full power make anything happen here (if they have a chance at all). This administration is very committed to stuffing its idea of healthcare down America’s throat, despite us mostly not wanting it.