It's quite foolhardy to think that even the best interpersonal skills could cause the 73-year-old Kennedy, with two decades of Supreme Court experience, to change his vote. Indeed, Justices Scalia and Ginsburg have long been good friends off the bench but neither seems to have any effect on the other's voting patterns.How foolhardy is it that Libs think Kagan could cause a 73 year old justice w/ 2 decades of service 2 change?I'm not saying this will happen, but the reason people who do say things like that do so is because they are familiar with the history of the Court. They know, and you would do if you bothered to read, that the Court's decisions are often influenced as much by the personality of the justices than their ideology.
For instance, Warren was able to basically charm his Conservative colleagues into a unanmious decision on Roe v. Wade and Miranda v. Arizona. Blackmun was able to persuade some other Conservative justices into voting with the majority on Roe v. Wade.
You see, you'd know these things if you'd only read.How foolhardy is it that Libs think Kagan could cause a 73 year old justice w/ 2 decades of service 2 change?I'm not sure it's so fool hardy. Very few of the Supreme Court decisions come down to a 5-4 vote. Heck, Ginsburg and Scalia agree most of the time. It is conceivable that a well reasoned argument could sway Kennedy or even Roberts.
However, Kagen is more centrist in many matters than most people give her credit for.
I expect to see more 6-3 and 7-2 decisions in the coming years.
