Kagan and the Dominance of the Ivy League
As many journalists and political pundits have pointed out, if Elena Kagan is in fact confirmed as the 112th Supreme Court Justice, it would secure a complete Harvard-Yale Law dominance of the Supreme Bench. Here’s a quick rundown of the current academic pedigrees of the other eight Supreme Court Justices:
Samuel Alito
Undergraduate: Princeton Law School: Yale
Stephen Breyer
Undergraduate: Stanford Law School: Harvard
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Undergraduate: Cornell Law School: Harvard, Columbia
Anthony Kennedy
Undergraduate: Stanford Law School: Harvard
John Roberts
Undergraduate: Harvard Law School: Harvard
Antonin Scalia
Undergraduate: Georgetown Law School: Harvard
Sonia Sotomayor
Undergraduate: Princeton Law School: Yale
Clarence Thomas
Undergraduate: Holy Cross Law School: Yale
You can clearly see that the breakdown is highly skewed in the Ivy direction, with Harvard/Yale achieving almost complete dominance in the Law School category (since Ginsburg technically transferred and completed her degree at Columbia). Only Clarence Thomas completed his undergraduate degree at what might not be considered an “elitist” institution. Kagan went to Princeton for undergrad and then attended Harvard Law. Her confirmation would only continue to solidify the Ivy/Harvard+Yale dominance.
Some have started to get up in arms that this is just the most recent example of American institutional elitism. David Bernstein from VC writes: “I know that Harvard and Yale attract a disproportionate percentage of America’s talented youth, but still, isn’t this a bit much? Are there no similarly talented individuals who attended other Ivy League schools, other private universities or (gasp!) even state law schools?”
But his is one of the more moderate complaints. The Washington Post has a more extensive criticism of the Ivy drapings of the Court. The article, titled, “The justice league: Elena Kagan’s nomination shows that Ivy roots run deep,” argues while it is hard to argue with Ivy League degrees, the Supreme Court is missing something if it only selects from the Ivy pool:
But are these super-pedigreed candidates missing something?
“Harvard and Yale are, by any standard, great educational institutions, but it is not one of their strengths to instill in their students a sense of humility,” says Jerome Karabel, a sociology professor and author of “The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.” “And if humility is a desirable quality in justices, then Harvard and Yale should not be the only pathway to the Supreme Court. Some of our greatest justices — Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall, Robert Jackson and Hugo Black come to mind — did not attend Harvard or Yale.”
Say what you will about lacking a “sense of humility,” but I think it’s hard to construct an argument about institutional elitism as far as it relates to having educational opportunities in America. Maybe it is the case that a disproportionate number of Justices come from the Ivy League- even at the expense of superb candidates from state schools- but does this mean there is overarching institutional elitism? I say no. In order to prove this, one would have to show that there is discrimination at the level of undergraduate and law schools admissions. I won’t argue that this isn’t at all the case- but the Supreme Court isn’t the place to look for evidence. A number of the Justices came from poor backgrounds and are great American success stories.
So if you, Cornellian, are an aspiring Supreme Court Justice, your best bet would be to start studying for the LSATs early and apply to Harvard/Yale. Your chances look good!
