Elena Kagan And The Harvard Law School Plagiarism Disdain And Disregard
by Tom Remington | July 12, 2010
*Scroll for Updates*
Is it impossible to find an honest person in this country of ours? For many years now there has been a joke played out, often during the Christmas holiday season, saying something to the effect that Americans no longer enact Living Nativities because they can no longer find three wise men or a virgin. Can we also no longer find honest people?
President Barack Obama has nominated Elena Kagan, former Dean of Harvard Law School and now Solicitor General under Obama, to serve on the United States Supreme Court. I have written a few articles on Kagan’s nomination mostly in regard to Second Amendment issues. Find those here, here, here, and here, here.
Like with any Supreme Court nominee, there is more to the person than simply how they stand on Second Amendment. Isn’t it just as important to know about a person’s character, maybe even to know whether they find little problem with lying, cheating and stealing?
A reader tipped me off the other day to events that have been taking place for some time at Harvard Law School, especially during the time that Elena Kagan was the Dean. It appears there is nothing short of an epidemic (at least by using Barack Obama’s standards for what entails an epidemic) of plagiarism by some of Harvard Law’s well-known associates – Alan Dershowitz, Charles Ogletree and Laurence Tribe.
The history is long and sordid dating back several years. You can find much information about this from the links given to me by a reader who claims to have been following this story for several years and puzzles over why nobody is talking about this during the Kagan hearings. The Harvard Plagiarism Archive is a good place to start and the below video I’ve posted can be found at the Harvard Parody.
Personally I have little, if anything, at stake if Harvard Law School wants to pump out liars, cheaters and stealers. They only stand to ruin their name and reputation, resulting a continued “dumbing down”, if you will, of the quality of student wanting to attend. This of course will lead to nowhere in a hurry. However, all Americans have a stake in this because as Dean of Harvard Law School, according to documents provided in these links, Elena Kagan was aware of copying and pasting of other scholars’ work into books and other documents claimed by Dershowitz, Ogletree and Tribe and essentially did nothing about it. Even more troubling is that Kagan, as Dean, investigated accusations against Laurence Tribe about his using students to ghostwrite and plagiarizing for his book and other works. A real conflict of interest exists here in that Kagan used to ghostwrite for Tribe.
Plagiarism is a serious offense. Caught in the act, a student will be bounced out on their ear but evidently it is an acceptable practice at Harvard Law School for professors and staff; at least under Kagan’s watch. The ramifications of stealing another person’s scholarship goes far beyond the obvious dishonesty and threatens the very foundation of academic scholarship, much as Climategate has rattled and cracked the scientific world leaving millions not knowing who to believe or trust.
I have to concur with the person who tipped me off about this Harvard plagiarism affair and ask much the same question: Why isn’t this being discussed during the Kagan nomination process? This knowledge challenges the very core of a person’s character; the very ethos no American should desire to see of a person sitting on the highest court in this land.
Surely members of the Senate must be aware of this……aren’t they? Do they want to know? How deeply tied are these Senators to Dershowitz, Ogletree and Tribe? Is this all just Washington “business as usual/politics as usual”?
For Elena Kagan, as dean of any college, to show such disregard for obvious plagiarism is an abomination but to take it upon herself to investigate the person she used to ghostwrite for, simply reeks of dishonesty and a cover-up or better yet a good, old-fashioned Washington, D.C. whitewash.
The video that follows is a parody of the entire Harvard plagiarism fiasco. It is about 30 minutes long and covers an array of plagiarism and ghostwriting accusations, who knew about them and when, and what if anything was done about them. It’s all quite disgusting to be honest.
While Kagan’s dishonesty and track record on Second Amendment issues tells me this woman should never sit on any court and should never have been allowed to hold the position as Solicitor General, the character of this woman shown in this information, degrades her to that of a common criminal, one who can’t excel in life without the assistance of lying, cheating and stealing and covering it up for herself and others.
Shame on the Senate for not getting to the bottom of this in their vetting process. If you think this information is important in selecting a Justice to sit on the Supreme Court, pass it on to everyone you know and most importantly, send it to your Senator.
Tom Remington
*Update* – July 12, 8:15 a.m.
A new video parody has been produced by the Harvard Law School Drama team called, “Elena Kagan’s “Runaround Suit”“. The video begins with Elena Kagan addressing the Senate committee and gushing over Justice Stevens’ integrity and dedication to his job. She regrets not being able to serve with Stevens if appointed to the court. The parody then switches to Kagan attending a Harvard Law School drama performance that ridicules Justice Stevens only 16 months prior.
[...] more information. After the post, I also posted copies of the story at the Conservative Zone and Candid Conservatives. I followed this up with emailings – many to prominent conservative bloggers and several [...]
[...] more information. After the post, I also posted copies of the story at the Conservative Zone and Candid Conservatives. I followed this up with emailings – many to prominent conservative bloggers and several [...]