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On first day, Kagan fills chamber with queries, comments
Justice Elena Kagan threw herself into her new job Monday with an aggressive performance during the Supreme Court's inaugural oral argument of the 2010 term.
During the first hour of her judicial debut, Kagan asked infinitely more questions than Justice Clarence Thomas did during all of last year. If first impressions hold true, the former Harvard Law School dean will be one of the court's most active and engaged members.
"Let's stay with this," Kagan told one attorney before she launched into her first query of the day.
Kagan asked 10 questions during the oral argument in a fairly arcane case involving income deductions and bankruptcy law. This was more than most of her colleagues and far more than Thomas, who kept his habitual silence Monday.
Thomas didn't speak during the 70-plus hours of oral argument that made up the 2009 term. He's said that he doesn't find much value in interrupting attorneys. His colleagues never hesitate to do so, and they did so Monday in their characteristic ways.