Right-Wing Youth Group Rallying Against Kagan Today

Protesters outside the US Supreme Court building.
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Right-wing youth will gather in D.C. at 12:30 today to call on the Senate not to confirm Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. The event, hosted by the conservative Young Americans for Freedom, will include speeches by leaders from the libertarian CATO Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the tea party movement.

The event, coming four days into the Kagan hearings and after the end of Kagan’s public testimony before Congress, is the first organized demonstration for or against Kagan this week. So far, the hearings have been relatively controversy-free (outside the hearing room that is), with only Capitol Hill mainstay Randall Terry and his followers showing up each day to attack Kagan over abortion rights.

Today’s protest also includes talk of abortion, but will focus on other conservative attacks on Kagan as well.

“Our generation cannot afford to be denied job opportunities and the ability to patriotically serve our country because Kagan poorly judged the value of military service,” YAF executive director Jordan Marks said in a statement. “Our generation cannot afford to to have Kagan on the bench for the next forty years because Kagan’s awful judgment to favor Socialism over freedom.”

It’s not clear how big today’s event is or what, if any, effect it might have on the Kagan nomination itself. The feeling on the Hill these days is that Kagan taking retiring Justice John Paul Stevens’ seat on the Supreme Court is essentially a fait accompli, despite vocal opposition to her record from prominent Republicans like Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-AL).

Today’s YAF event kicks off at 12:30 on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. According to organizers, young conservatives across the country who cannot attend “will be calling their U.S. Senators during their lunch break to encourage them to keep out Kagan.”

Note: This post has been updated.

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