Former law dean Kagan will make great Justice, say… law deans?

Do law school deans really have a “unique vantage point” from which to conclude that Kagan would make a swell Supreme Court justice? They seem to think that her “work and accomplishments at Harvard” qualify her for the post. Forgive me, because sometimes my suspicious nature gets the better of me, but isn’t it just a little possible that a bunch of law school deans might have a vested interest in promoting one of their own?
Don’t get me wrong. Nominees usually get some letters from various groups supporting them, but Kagan was an elite member of an elitist group of law deans. This letter might appeal to the liberals on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but to the rest of us it’s a kiss-of-death type of endorsement that reminds us of the type of crowd she runs in.
Apparently there was a  White House-organized conference call with reporters on Monday where her willingness to hire conservative professors at Harvard was touted as “powerful leadership.” But when asked about the lack of black and Latino professors at Harvard, Kagan’s defenders started talking about how it wasn’t Kagan’s fault because the hiring process is mostly faculty-driven and like “herding cats.”   No contradiction there. Move along.
And if you haven’t gotten your pro-Kagan talking points from Obama’s Organizing for America website (a product of the Democratic National Committee) with the phone numbers of which conservative radio talk shows to call, you can pick those up here. But if those talk show hosts “challenge your views” remember to “stay calm and firm.”
Or tell them you’re a law school dean. They’ll cower at your “unique vantage point.”