The headline is from the Washington Post: “69 law school deans endorse Kagan in letter to Senate.” OK, after “duh,” my first reaction is that this is precisely what is wrong with Elena Kagan. She has spent most of her professional career flattering and being flattered by utterly like-minded liberals. And remember, it was this “club” that decided that the Solomon Act was unconstitutional, a legal judgment that eight Supreme Court justices rejected. Moreover, their praise is really without much basis in fact, and at points misleading:

The letter says that Kagan “excels along all relevant dimensions desired in a Supreme Court justice.” It says her “writing in constitutional and administrative law are highly respected and widely cited.”

As to the first, well, judging and a few years of litigation would be nice. As to the second, only the White House actually believes she is a scholar of any note. Her meager writings are conventional and uninteresting, as even liberal supporters will admit.

But we also learn that there are no letters of opposition. It’s not hard to figure why. She is the most innocuous and least “dangerous” nominee from the perspective of conservatives, who view her as inexperienced and an intellectual lightweight. They also take note of the many cases from which she will be recused and figure they will get the equivalent of a Court power play (i.e., the other team will be down a man). Liberals are unenthusiastic and disgruntled for the very reason conservatives are pleased. In addition, they suspect she’s an ideological squish. But they have enough problems with this president and this election without staging a coup against the nominee.

So she will sail through, the second Supreme Court slot for which Obama missed the chance to find his liberal Scalia. Conservatives should be (and many are) thankful.