Nearly a month ago, HARVEY SILVERGLATE explained why an ELENA KAGAN nomination should give civil-liberties defenders pause. Now that Obama has nominated the former Harvard law dean, Silverglate's article contains the most detailed analysis yet published of Kagan's judicial philosophy. He writes:

On matters of executive authority — where the judicial branch has been a vital bulwark against post-9/11 “war on terror” civil-liberties violations — Kagan’s record indicates an ideological departure from Justice Stevens, who authored watershed detainee-rights opinions and organized the five-justice majorities that struck down other Bush administration power grabs.