Kagan Advocates Consensus on Bench

Though she has often been accused by Republicans of being overly political, Elena Kagan erred on the side of compromise on Wednesday. During the third day of her confirmation hearings, Kagan argued that justices should seek greater consensus wherever possible, but refused to criticize many of the court’s more divisive recent decisions. “The court is served best and our country is served best when people trust the court as an entirely nonpolitical body,” Kagan said. “One of the benefits of narrow decisions is that they enable consensus to a greater degree than broad, far-reaching decisions.” So far, she has won over several critics, but Jeff Sessions, the Senate panel’s ranking Republican, insists some questions remain. It’s difficult to know whether “you’d be more like John Roberts or more like Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” he told her.