Sorry, Yale. No contest.
I won’t go on about the nomination process, which has been covered to death. But, I just wanted to point out this particularly conspiratorial, but savvy, analysis at Above the Law about Deputy Principal Counsel (and Harvard law professor, again) Dan Meltzer:
Also on Friday, Daniel Meltzer resigned as deputy principal counsel, to return to his post as a professor at Harvard Law School. What does this mean?
“Meltzer is out — meaning he didn’t get his way,” a source told us. “Expect an announcement Monday that [the nominee will be] Kagan.”
Hold on a sec. Dan Meltzer was on the Harvard Law faculty before joining the White House counsel’s office. Shouldn’t he be playing for Team Kagan?
Actually, no. Meltzer has been trying to sink Kagan throughout the entire process. Why? Because of a grudge dating back to their days in Cambridge. He threw his hat into the ring for the Harvard Law School deanship at the same time as Kagan, but lost out to her — and has never forgiven Kagan for beating him out for the post.
Now Meltzer is headed back to Harvard — where someday he might become dean, perhaps after Martha Minow finishes out her term. With Kagan out of the picture, after her confirmation to a life-tenured position on the Supreme Court, he won’t have to worry about her pesky meddling!
They further note that Meltzer played a key role in preparing Justice Sotomayor for confirmation, something he presumably wasn’t particularly excited about doing with his old rival…See, Harvard administrative politics is everywhere—even at the highest court in the land! And we thought faculty meetings were boring.