Elena Kagan Quotes
It's not that there are no masters, but that there are many. And the job of the solicitor general is to balance those masters and to accommodate them all, each in their proper places, wisely and well and in so doing to represent the people of the United States.
Kagan, Elena. Confirmation Hearing. Nomination of Elena Kagan to be Solicitor General of the United States, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 10 Feb. 2009.
At the time his Vice President, John C. Calhoun, was expounding a theory of “nullification” by which the states could supersede and nullify federal law in their states. When Jackson finished his toast, it was Calhoun’s turn (See {635896}.) His toast supported the States’ Rights position over the federal government. In those days Presidents and Vice President’s were often political enemies or of opposite parties. The President’s advisors thought that his toast might be misinterpreted. So when they gave the toast to the press as “The Federal Union: It must be preserved.” That was the form in which the press reported the President’s toast and for many years that was the version most quoted even though it was never delivered that way. However Jackson was responsible for both versions.
See Charles James Fox, John Milton, Grover Cleveland, George Mason, Henry Clay, Benjamin Disraeli and Woodrow Wilson for similar expressions of this idea.
Henry of Navarre. The Great Council was the first proposed International governing body—a precursor to the EEC, the UN and the League of Nations. Henry's plan included an international army and navy to enforce the decisions. See {622121} for another name for the idea.
1st Baron Macaulay
Elena Kagan is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 10, 2010 and has served since August 7, 2010. Kagan is the fourth woman to become a member of the Court.
