Well, although it seems that this thread has become largely a place for political name-calling and personal attacks (ironically which some have angrily accused the Democrats of), in which I have no interest in participating, I will say this:
Last night I was fortunate enough to both hear Justice Kagan speak, and meet her one-on-one. A few of the things I learned:
- During her confirmation process, she was asked a lot about the Second Amendment. Being that the Supreme Court hadn't dealt with many gun cases before Heller, Kagan intimated that she "had never really thought about guns much." She didn't feel she had a good answer to their questions, but not because she believed differently than them, but because she hadn't ever had much occasion to consider guns. It seemed to me that this is what, in part, drove her to actually seek out the hunting trip. She wanted to learn more, and actually have some kind of hands-on experience with an issue that she might have to rule on some day. Personally, I think that's fairly commendable.
- She spoke to a room full of largely big-city liberal-type lawyers. She could have easily pulled a few anti-gun jokes off much to the delight of most of the crowd. She didn't, and from all I heard her say both privately and in her speech, she seems fairly willing to keep an open mind.
- Even as a proud libertarian, I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed being able to speak with her. She is an engaging and thoughtful person, and believe it or not, is very close friends with a LOT of pretty conservative judges. I'm not willing to proclaim that she is a 2A defender, but I'm also no longer convinced that she is an automatic threat. Funny how that happens when you go from thinking about some impersonal, distant "other" to actually having met with and experienced a person first hand. My interactions were obviously not too extensive, but I'm a lot less scared than I used to be.