It appears that the Senate Judiciary Committee's Republicans have so far one solo talking point, that being that Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to ever serve on the Supreme Court, was an "activist judge," and because Elena Kagin clerked for him, she must be tainted by her association with him. Marshall, of course, successfully argued before the Supreme Court - when he held the Solicitor General's job that Elena Kagin currently holds - that the 1898 Plessy versus Ferguson "separate but equal" racial doctrine should be overturned, and the Court unanimously agreed in its "Brown versus Board of Education" decision. But these Southern State Senators, particularly Alabama's Jeff Sessions, are apparently still smarting over being forced by the Court to accept integration of workplaces, neighborhoods, and lunch counters. Once again, the hard reich in the Republican party shows their true stripes, and doesn't even have the common sense or moral compass to be embarassed by it. They mentioned Thurgood Marshall - in a negative context - nearly twice as many times in their opening remarks as they mentioned their other boogeyman, the current President of the United States, an African-American who wouldn't be President if Marshall hadn't successfully argued that case before the court.