[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8121]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       NEVER BEEN IN A COURTROOM

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the new Supreme Court pick, Elena 
Kagan, has never been a judge. News reports say she doesn't have trial 
court experience as a lawyer. As a lawyer, she never questioned a 
witness or made an argument before a jury. She's never been a trial 
judge so she never had to make a constitutional ruling in the courtroom 
in the heat of trial. She's never heard a civil case. She's never heard 
a criminal case. She's never even heard a traffic case. She's never 
ruled on the rules of evidence like the exclusionary rule. She's never 
instructed a jury on reasonable doubt or sentenced a convicted 
criminal.
  Why should Elena Kagan be confirmed to a lifetime appointment to the 
most powerful court in the world? She'd be judging trial lawyers and 
trial judges who've been through the mud and the blood and the beer of 
courtroom trials. A trial--maybe something she's never even seen. She's 
an academic elitist that's never tried a case. That's like putting 
someone in charge of the brain surgery unit that's never done an 
operation.
  And that's just the way it is.

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