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After Roberts defends SCOTUS, Kagan warns…

U.S. Supreme Court After Roberts defends SCOTUS, Kagan warns of judges creating 'legitimacy problems for themselves'

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 14, 2022, 2:19 pm CDT

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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said Monday judges can “create legitimacy problems for themselves” by appearing to be political.

Kagan’s livestreamed comments at Temple Emanu-El in New York followed remarks Friday by Chief Justice John Roberts, who said controversial decisions should not lead to questions about the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.

The Associated Press, Law.com, Bloomberg Law and CNN are among the publications with coverage of Kagan’s remarks.

Kagan said she was speaking in general terms, and she wasn’t referring to a particular case or cases. Nor did she identify a particular court at fault.

According to the CNN, this is what she said: “I think judges create legitimacy problems for themselves—undermine their legitimacy—when they don’t act so much like courts and when they don’t do things that are recognizably law and when they instead stray into places where it looks like they are an extension of the political process or where they are imposing their own personal preferences.”

According to the AP, Kagan said changes in court personnel should not “send the entire legal system up for grabs.”

See also:

SCOTUS justices discuss Supreme Court’s legitimacy, lengthy path to law license

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