"I guess my view is that this is what happens to good people when they get caught in a system based on false ideas: make one moral mistake, render one stupid decision or write one controversial essay, and you’ll be disqualified from high office. If they do any of these things then the interest groups on the other side go crazy, we in the press go into a tizzy and the nominee has to step down because he or she has become a “distraction” to the president. This is a standard that none of us would apply to ourselves and none of us would apply to spouses, friends or family members. We all spend our lives with flawed human beings but somehow expect our court nominees to be without impairment. The result is you get a set of incentives that impairs the careers of brilliant but flawed or prolific people. It rewards the careers of bland mediocrities. In the case of Elena Kagan, it gives a brilliant and gifted person a strong incentive to be reticent and cagey." - Christopher Chung