U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan '86 at HLS

During Orientation, Harvard Law School hosted a conversation between U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan ‘86 and former Dean Martha Minow. Justice Kagan discussed her career and offered some advice to new HLS students.

[@notphilivey]

Even though I am a conservative and disagree with most of Justice Kagan's "interpretations" of the constitution, she seems like a thoroughly likable, down to earth person. That says a lot about the person. She does not believe she is better than the rest of us. I like that.

[@smacky1966]

I agree with your comments. I am conservative and disagree with Justice Kagan’s judicial philosophy as well. She is my favorite Justice on a personal level. She is brilliant, and recognizes that the American Judicial Tradition is broad based. I trust that her decisions, even the ones I disagree with, come from her genuine belief in the American Constitution. She in my estimation is a Patriot and I with frustration admit she has a rightful place on our highest court.

[@smacky1966]

@Professor C don’t fall into the leftist trap

[@notphilivey]

@Professor C ha, Point for you.

[@Raphaelkungfupanda]

Likeable doesn’t mean she’s right. Obama was likeable but he turned into a bi cobra.

[@siq23]

@@smacky1966 I think your commentary is purely indicative of the horrible bi-partisan state we are in, as you say, "....and I with frustration admit...." Why do you have to be so frustrated to admit that someone is highly qualified for a position? Just because she has different views than yours? Why is that so frustrating. The Supreme court should have a diverse array of judges with diverse experiences, we shouldn't have a supreme court filled with justices who all agree with one another or have similar ideologies - that's a modern day "circle jerk." I am liberal and I am not frustrated at Amy Barrett. I think she's exceptional and highly qualified. What I do disagree with is the blatant hypocrisy of senate judicial committee allowing the hearing to proceed and how we use Supreme Court Justice nominations as political tools. The sad reality is that we have people who are in a position of power and who are just as "frustrated" as you are when they know that a candidate, employee, colleague, or coworker of an opposing ideology is not only qualified, but speak the truth, yet they are not given true credit or even acknowledged because they do not fall within "party lines." We will never move forward as a nation and a civilized society, if you we cannot promote people of different ideologies when they present sound arguments and are qualified, both in merit and human character.

[@faisalibrahimcisse7440]

Such a resourceful interview. I have learned a lot from Justice Kagan. "Great lawyers are great listeners"...My take-home lesson.

[@jayspencer8893]

I just love how no-nonsense and straight-to-the-point her entrance was. No pretense what so never 😂

[@ksat8602]

38:44-40:30 “ You grow up and you learn you can be friends with people with different views and opinions than you think”. You should be open to learning from them as you also entertain the notion that they can also learn from you in an atmosphere of open- mindedness- Touching. Great point in this conversation. Loved it!

[@EphesianRose]

I’m a conservative but I’ve always found Justice Kagan so likable and inspiring.

[@ruchpat1]

Thank you Harvard Law School for putting this video out. May God Bless you all and May God Bless Harvard Law School.

[@_andrew.simamora]

Thanks for your upload admin

[@johndanielson3777]

Thank you Obama for appointing Kagan to the Court.

[@Law9652]

Why is it a good thing? If you want developments, let the legislature do that. Rather than out-of-touch lawyers who think they have an understanding of the real world, though they're multi-millionaires far removed from the man on the street.

[@Law9652]

@Jason Wong It balances the power, but that does not mean it has an equal role to play. It's got the narrowest role of the 3 branches in part because it has no democratic legitimacy.

[@johndanielson3777]

Patrick Elliott glad to know you want right wing judicial activists

[@johndanielson3777]

Black Mamba you mean the Democratic Senate who confirmed her to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court in which only five Republican Senators voted for her?

[@lizgichora6472]

Thank you for a great interview on criteria; 'Listening, Wisdom i.e being wise and making sure federal law is understood across the country', for uniformity. You inspire many ' General ' Elena Kagan.

[@mitchellseeman4783]

Even though I disagree with Justice Kagan, she is a justice that I respected. She is very hard to dislike in interviews, and her speech when Mason named their law school after the late great Justice Scalia was very good

[@bonnierobinson5917]

This was awesome. Thank you for posting it.

[@colloredbrothers]

I agree with Billy Bob, I'm conservative too and she is truly a special person, it seems all justices are, Iv seen an interview with Clarence Thomas and he was amazing as well, so much to learn from these wise wise people. I'm happy I can see them speak.

[@mehmetokay7073]

First time I have ever heard her speak. She sounds pretty good.

[@rasul407]

I know! Her and Robert Muller I wondered for months what they sounded like all you see was images and moving bodies

[@DerekWong967]

No one: Interviewer: ahahahaAHAHAHAHAAAHA

[@Allen1029]

This was an excellent, wise, really enjoyable conversation.

THANKS YOU

[@jamesduggan7200]

All US Law Schools impart substantially the same curriculum esp. to 1Ls, and it's presumed any lawyer upon passing a bar exam is qualified to handle any legal question (because they know how to research and narrow issues etc). However doesn't it make sense for American judges to receive additional training at a school for judges?

[@onebuffalo5402]

You typically learn on the job. usually you dont become a judge unless you were a trial lawyer for quite a few years. In doing so you basically learn the job and its procedure by proxy of you engaging with judges non-stop. You typically dont become a justice without having quite a few years as a judge prior. Kagan and Marshall are very notable exemptions to that having never sat on the bench prior.

[@jamesduggan7200]

@@onebuffalo5402 I would object to your use of the word "typically." As is the case with Presidents (45), there is an insufficient sampling universe to draw normative conclusions. Otherwise, generally speaking, I agree with you.

[@onebuffalo5402]

@@jamesduggan7200 Im speaking in generalities, which obviously don't indicate a proven statistical correlation but appear the norm on an eye level.

[@Patmorgan235Us]

@@jamesduggan7200 there are thousands of US federal judges

[@jamesduggan7200]

@@Patmorgan235Us Unless I'm on someone's short list for a good legal job I fail to see how your reply affects me.

[@BrendaColvin]

I enjoyed this.

[@jackg7538]

I adore Elena Kagan even when I don’t agree with her most of the time. She’s so funny and so intelligent and articulate. Gaaaah I love love her!

[@markanderson100]

Someone has a crush.. hehe

[@yuliaschannel6288]

It’s not her it’s him….

[@charlabolton1853]

Weren’t the students supposed to have a segment to ask questions? The former Dean was consuming way too much air space and not letting Kagan finish her answers. Kagan seems to me the most judicious and balanced SC justice. I do hope her sense of both practice and procedure in furthering the court’s work will hold sway in the year’s to come.

[@AngelinaCruz357]

What an amazing journey 😍.

[@robertwnorrisii9143]

I didn't get my admissions letter.

[@andrewroberts8139]

No questions?

[@KADAMASOUL]

I don't get it why this happens in the USA when I went the first time to Philadelphia I went to the courthouse to settle a dispute with my grandfather and my aunt asked me why did you hold it or because I still there for like 10 minutes hold him people the door, it seems like common courtesy to me I wanted nothing in exchange.

[@andrewroberts8139]

Who's here because of the New Yorker profile?

[@kimjin-hyub3413]

Now , going to read her profile.

[@metathynk9400]

👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼

[@rasheedaparente7749]

Did Grade my 'Opening Remarks' yet?

[@tristanzotaj5887]

This is home page Primate for Justified all and extra my programs individual memory...

[@thattimestampguy]

28:20 different kinds of lawyers

[@andrewpaczynski4018]

Love the end, "with great power comes great responsibility" in an opinion about spider man case lol.

[@thisismansoor]

No comments. Hon. Justice Ismail Cassim Mansoor aka Luke and Mansoor ET AL

[@AngelinaCruz357]

It's a lot of responsibility taking notes 📝.

[@AngelinaCruz357]

Junior Justice ⚖ open doors? Are you joking?

[@AngelinaCruz357]

Humbling experience I presume.

[@tofan2622]

Justice Kagan is such a great Justice, it's crazy for people to think she decides cases a certain way. Elena is nothing but cool, smooth and fair, and probably smarter than you. I think balance is probably her best trait!

[@DerekWong967]

Kagan: you're supposed to laugh at that Interviewer: Ok, *HAHAHAHahahahah*

[@bluemagic5829]

The interviewer is insufferable.

[@timtalton1709]

Why are the super intelligent, also often awkward?

[@ashutoshchaturvedi8920]

Great

[@AnonYmous-ry2jn]

Is she saying real errors in lower courts (including lives being destroyed) don't matter unless it's what she considers a "systemic" problem? "Stuff happens" is their answer in such situations?

[@AnonYmous-ry2jn]

If 140 cases a year (the old standard) is too much work, why not get more clerks or more justices? Doesn't the title "justice" imply that's the main priority, and even if any individual justice's importance or impact is somewhat diluted, isn't that an acceptable price to pay if substantial justice is advanced, so you don't have to say to a victim of lower court error, "too bad for you; not a 'systemic' problem."

[@onebuffalo5402]

@@AnonYmous-ry2jn 140 cases is too much just because of time... that would be a case decision ~ every 2.6 days (obviously they tend to release decisions in groupings) but thats absurd just from a perspective of hearing all the arguments for those cases... hearings can be a week+long depending on the case... that would already put you in a 4 day hole behind on that case. That doesnt even go to talk about the actual process of writing decisions and opinions about cases or the prep/grunt work for the cases that are upcoming, etc. Adding more justices isnt gonna make that faster, in fact it could log jam even more due to more discussion and debate both during the hearing and after.

[@bluemagic5829]

It's an inherently political court. They pick and choose which cases to take and are appointed by presidents, not elected by the people. The notion that this court is independent is utterly delusional.

[@DB-gl3jx]

@@AnonYmous-ry2jn If you’ve read even a single case of the Supreme Court, then you’d know that your demand is foolish. Some cases are over 200 pages long, and that certainly isn’t gonna take just a few days to write. These judges deliberate as well, and need time to take a position. Not to mention, they have to dig through previous precedents and analyze multiple cases. It’s pretty clear that you’re ignorant of the Supreme Court’s judicial process.

[@sophiegregson]

I looked her up and it said she was decapitated in a rollercoaster wtf 😃

[@AngelinaCruz357]

Ms. Kagan needs to be more in focus. 🎥📽📸

[@AngelinaCruz357]

I only see her profile.

[@AngelinaCruz357]

She is the guest!

[@AngelinaCruz357]

Ms. Kagan is also out of focus on her interview at UCLA Law school. Hmmmm.

[@ireneimanil8376]

June 28, 2022 Remember the 2018 adjudication of yours at Middlesex Court house over the case against me brought about by Kennedy, probably Jenny Arquero, fake Irene Imanil of Patrick Kennedy. It was about the rental car from Hertz, but it could be tampered to be some other case. In my argument, I talked about the level of security clearance that people can access. The military has the highest level of security clearance because it engages in war, but I am not militarily activated with my name, so the state gov tries really hard to exclude me, despite my caliber. The banks refuse to fund me. The realtors try to make me homeless, which I am already in the state of HI. They know that I am not militarily activated with my name as King Philip II, so these realtors network to block us of home ownership in HI. There is never ending plot to hurt us especially at night. I don't know the plight of my brother and his sons and daughters in HI. They might have been driven out from the Waikiki condos and made homeless, and their ids might have been stolen by far too many others. I need help so do my brother and his sons and daughters because the military may have heist on us that we don't want them to, just because we hailed from royal blood line or maybe we are yellow in America. America of Kennedy seems to be against us because they have their own fake Irene Imanil who are block to us. Maybe even Barack Obama and his network may have heist on us who are grabbing Waikiki prime real estates. Why they won't move to help my brothers and his sons, and me. The excuse of saying "We don't know them, why should we help" is inappropriate given our prevailing situations in America. If and when that is the case, and we are not at war with other countries, then why brother to have US military open, why bother to have airbases open that sits on land. Who gets to be recruited as airmen of US military? What criteria are used to be recruited? If and when the argument to man air traffic control for plane flights, then a little over a dozen of trained airmen can be positioned at the airports and not at the airbase. That is good enough to track the path of the plane. Any missiles to be intercepted? Any missile to chart the trajectory of its path? We didn't receive the money that other countries gave. The money was probably used to fund others leaving us in gov't assistance of welfare and in a state of poverty in America, and then to be pawned or sacrifice for the little $ that spent on us, but more $ for those fake names of us. Here in HI, the banks and other financial institutions fund those fake Irene Imanil who holo, and fake Jonathan Imanil, but refuse to fund us, so how do we survive without cash. With an MS in Pharmacology, I am on EBT without cash. I am without personal computer, no clearance to open gov't sites to bowlderize my cost of existence with my EBT. MZB of GU, didn't militarily activate me, didn't give money, didn't give me digits or bitcoin. She continually delete my name from AAFB, and she calls me "olol" (crazy). After 9/11 of 2001, she didn't do what WA told her to do. Instead she traveled to the Philippines and pretended not to know anything while she slowly made Norma Laca, my mom poor using many Filipinos. She fake news to say we don't want cash, we are humble, yet we want MZB dead to unblock us. I don't have phone that is fully operational because it is probably block by the network of Hickam, Wong Lau when I call GU. My mail--checks and letters--from GU are stolen even by employees of postal service. I can only wonder who give them order to do as such. These missives are sometimes opened and blotted to be read by others over the internet, yet they are my letters. We want to live longer so help us find a place for asylum. With that much given by other countries, we didn't get anything. My brother and his sons and daughters who live with Noe, who holo plead for their lives saying "Help me, I don't want to die." This boy is probably only 13 years old? Hope you can help and what would be the quid pro quo? Maybe book co-authorship, killings of some fake Irene Imanil to unblock me. Why these fake Irene Imanil usually have men who have been airmen, who are maybe active duty, who may be de commissioned, or me who became wealthy by having fake Irene Imanil Irene Imanil MS in Pharmacology University of Hawaii Class of '92 GPA: 3.59

[@tristanzotaj5887]

Google please you support all VIDIO directly all one for one are only Justifild Thank you Google for answer I understand for your Fraser Short...

[@brianjameson3298]

I'm sorry. Cafeteria committee? Don't they have more important things to do than have a justice waste her time (and our tax dollars) on something like that?

[@ZygimantasA]

You must be fun at parties.

[@flatearther7013]

Against voter ID pro vaccine passport

[@FromTheHeart2]

47:38 "you are a law declaring court" waw! Now I understand the fuss around judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination!

Why??

[@strikategu6798]

Strika

[@anthonyc8257]

I hate the hosts laugh lol

[@vanvarner7679]

She doesn’t have a husband 👀

[@pacajalbert9018]

Nemecko diskriminuje celú Východnú EU a Nemecko nemá právo veta rozkazovať kto kde za koľko kto v ktorom štáte za koľko má pracovať na Nemecko

[@dondizzy7932]

Thats a guy😳

[@edythevictor8702]

The hesitant pair phytogeographically tremble because chin concurringly consider apud a luxuriant heart. tedious, reflective heaven

[@cb2643]

Gosh the interviewer’s screech makes this interview almost unbearable 😢

[@heyhey2810]

what a laugh

[@tranjavanadbia123]

Elena Kagan abused my sister when she was a child.

[@rn6710]

The interviewer's voice couldn't be much more annoying!

[@lesandthecity]

I found this interview and her responses very underwhelming and borderline boring. A lot of “uh” and “umm”. 😐

[@SharonCreamer671956]

What is that? She looks gross! Are there no smart good looking women for the role??? I'd be scared to death if I had to meet up with her.

[@elisolomon8741]

By all accounts, a left of centre Justice. But one who denounces the echo chamber that has incarcerated the majority of lay folk on the left. Justice Kalgan appears to be a as decent and thoughtful as a judge in her position should be.

[@dariosilva85]

What a terrible brain. What a terrible judicial philosophy.

[@patrickn8355]

🤢

[@cascam1]

Come and meet Cackling Cathy - Here's the Annoying... Martha Minow. Sending signals of self-importance. Glad Kagan disagreed with her in ALMOST every statement she made. "you're now the justice given the assignment of the 9th Circuit, right? And so it means you get to go to California? KAGAN: And many other states out there you know. It's a very large circuit, many states" !!

[@nashcoleon4244]

Is that a man

[@robertwnorrisii9143]

Did Grade my 'Opening Remarks' yet?

[@stevenjackson4734]

I just love how no-nonsense and straight-to-the-point her entrance was. No pretense what so never 😂

[@stevenjackson4734]

Did Grade my 'Opening Remarks' yet?