Changes

==Activity and ideology==

==Activity and ideology==

In 1987, Kagan was a law clerk for Judge Abner Mikva, a far-left judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and in 1988 she served justice Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court. The latter is considered by some to be the most liberal Supreme Court justice in American history, and that Kagan called him her legal hero is troubling to conservatives.<ref>''Why Ultra-Liberal Obama Needs Kagan On the Court'', Fox News,  May 10, 2010</ref>

In 1987, Kagan was a law clerk for Judge Abner Mikva, a far-left judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and in 1988 she served justice Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court. The latter is considered by some to be the most [[liberal]] Supreme Court justice in American history, and that Kagan called him her legal hero is troubling to conservatives.<ref>''Why Ultra-Liberal Obama Needs Kagan On the Court'', Fox News,  May 10, 2010</ref>

At Princeton,  Kagan was see as a reserved and and discreet person, politically "progressive and thoughtful but well within the mainstream of the ... sort of liberal, democratic, progressive tradition, and everything with lower case.”  Kagan, future N.Y. Governor Elliot Spitzer and certain other campus leaders were members of the ''Coordinating Council of the Campaign for a Democratic University'', which saw the administration as taking too much authority upon themselves, and signed a manifesto opposing it which appeared in the university paper, the ‘Prince.’<ref>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/05/03/26081/print ''Reserved passion: Kagan ’81'', The Daily Princetonian, May 3rd, 2010</ref>

At Princeton,  Kagan was see as a reserved and and discreet person, politically "progressive and thoughtful but well within the mainstream of the ... sort of liberal, democratic, progressive tradition, and everything with lower case.”  Kagan, future N.Y. Governor Elliot Spitzer and certain other campus leaders were members of the ''Coordinating Council of the Campaign for a Democratic University'', which saw the administration as taking too much authority upon themselves, and signed a manifesto opposing it which appeared in the university paper, the ‘Prince.’<ref>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/05/03/26081/print ''Reserved passion: Kagan ’81'', The Daily Princetonian, May 3rd, 2010</ref>

The group sought to “effect a fundamental restructuring of University governance,” the piece stated, adding that “the administration rules this campus by decree.For her senior college thesis at Princeton, she analyzed the failure of socialism in New York in the early 20th century, a movement which father and older brother sympathized with. Although the 153-page paper, ''To the Final Conflict: [[Socialism]] in New York City, 1900-1933,'' was written while Kagan was only 22, and was more of a dispassionate examination of the internal divisions in the movement that led to its decline, <ref>''For Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, a history of pragmatism over partisanship'', Washington Post, May 11, 2010</ref> some perceive it as lamenting "the non-existence of a viable socialist movement in the U.S."<ref>http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2010m4d10-How-Justice-Stevens-retirement-might-benefit-gun-rights</ref>Statements that some see as showing sympathy with socialism include: “Through its own internal feuding, then, the SP [Socialist Party] exhausted itself forever and further reduced labor radicalism in New York to the position of marginality and insignificance from which it has never recovered. The story is sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than a half century after socialism’s decline, still wish to change America.” The thesis has been removed from the Princeton University site, and electronic dissemination prohibited, while a fee of $54.60 is charged for purchase: <ref>http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/news/kagan.pdf</ref>

The group sought to “effect a fundamental restructuring of University governance,” the piece stated, adding that “the administration rules this campus by decree.For her senior college thesis at Princeton, she analyzed the failure of socialism in New York in the early 20th century, a movement which father and older brother sympathized with. Although the 153-page paper, ''To the Final Conflict: [[Socialism]] in New York City, 1900-1933,'' was written while Kagan was only 22, and was more of a dispassionate examination of the internal divisions in the movement that led to its decline, <ref>''For Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, a history of pragmatism over partisanship'', Washington Post, May 11, 2010</ref> some perceive it as lamenting "the non-existence of a viable socialist movement in the U.S."<ref>http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2010m4d10-How-Justice-Stevens-retirement-might-benefit-gun-rights</ref>Statements that some see as showing sympathy with socialism include: “Through its own internal feuding, then, the SP [Socialist Party] exhausted itself forever and further reduced labor radicalism in New York to the position of marginality and insignificance from which it has never recovered. The story is sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than a half century after socialism’s decline, still wish to change America.” The thesis has been removed from the Princeton University site, and electronic dissemination prohibited, while a fee of $54.60 is charged for purchase: <ref>http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/news/kagan.pdf</ref>

On November 10, 1980, a week after Ronald Reagan’s presidential victory, Kagan  submitted to ''The Daily Princetonian'', a personal essay titled,  “Fear and Loathing in Brooklyn,” in which she  explains that having worked some 14 hours a day, six days a week for the election of a liberal candidate Liz Holtzman, she wept when the candidate lost.” She expressed that due to her background,  "I absorbed such liberal principles early; more to the point, I have retained them fairly intact to this day."  Reflecting on Reagan's win and the liberal loss, she stated,  

On November 10, 1980, a week after Ronald Reagan’s presidential victory, Kagan  submitted to ''The Daily Princetonian''  a personal essay titled,  “Fear and Loathing in Brooklyn,” in which she  explains that having worked some 14 hours a day, six days a week for the election of liberal candidate Liz Holtzman, she wept when the candidate lost.” She expressed that due to her background,  "I absorbed such liberal principles early; more to the point, I have retained them fairly intact to this day."  Reflecting on Reagan's win and the liberal loss, she stated,  

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Looking back on last Tuesday [election day], I can see that our gut response -- our emotion-packed conclusion that the world had gone mad, that liberalism was dead and that there was no longer any place for the ideals we held or the beliefs we espoused -- was a false one. In my more rational moments, I can now argue that the next few years will be marked by American disillusionment with conservative programs and solutions, and that a new, revitalized, perhaps more leftist left will once again come to the fore...But somehow, one week after the election, these comforting thoughts do not last long. Self-pity still sneaks up, and I wonder how all this could possibly have happened and where on earth I’ll be able to get a job next year.

Looking back on last Tuesday [election day], I can see that our gut response -- our emotion-packed conclusion that the world had gone mad, that liberalism was dead and that there was no longer any place for the ideals we held or the beliefs we espoused -- was a false one. In my more rational moments, I can now argue that the next few years will be marked by American disillusionment with conservative programs and solutions, and that a new, revitalized, perhaps more leftist left will once again come to the fore...But somehow, one week after the election, these comforting thoughts do not last long. Self-pity still sneaks up, and I wonder how all this could possibly have happened and where on earth I’ll be able to get a job next year.