Kagan Seeks Compromise as High Court Tackles Contentious Issues

Justice Elena Kagan said she hopes the US Supreme Court can go back to finding more common ground, as the justices continue to consider contentious social issues amid historically low opinion polls.

“Time will tell whether this is a court that can get back to finding common ground” and “to ratcheting down the level of decision making so that we can reach compromises,” Kagan said Friday to a group of students at the University of Pennsylvania.

The justice, who currently finds herself on the short end of a 6-3 conservative majority on the court, said she thought of herself consistently as a dissenter last year. “I think it would be a really bad thing if that was just what the court is going to be like,” Kagan said.

The justices, who kicked off their latest term Oct. 3, are set to hear divisive cases on affirmative action, LGBTQ rights, and voting rules following last term’s rulings on abortion, gun rights, and the environment.

“Do we engage with each other in a way that in a way that attempts to find common ground, in a way that fosters principled compromise? Or is that is that sort of beyond us?”

“I really want it to be the first, but that’s a work in progress,” Kagan said. “Some years are better than other years.”

—With assistance from Greg Stohr