When Justice Sonia Sotomayor was nominated last year for her current position on the US Supreme Court, the Obama administration put the focus squarely on her personal story. But now in the case of Elena Kagan, the president and his team are attempting to prevent the latest nominee's personal story from reaching the American public.

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In May of 2009, President Obama hailed the empathy Justice Sotomayor gained being raised in a housing project by a widow who worked six days a week. He said she would bring "wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life's journey" to the court. (source) For weeks the media touted the story of a young woman of Puerto Rican descent, raised in a South Bronx tenement. There was a plethora of stories about how her widowed mother placed a strong emphasis on education, struggling to purchase the Encyclopedia Britannica for her children and guiding the future Justice through all the steps necessary to obtain an Ivy League education.

But with Nominee Kagan the White House is blocking access to anyone who might be able to tell her personal story to the American people. When a New York Times reporter attempted to observe Ms. Kagan's brother teaching his constitutional law class at Hunter College High School, Mr. Kagan and the school agreed but a school spokeswoman said all media requests had to be given final approval by the White House. The White House decidedly did not approve. Joshua Earnest, a White House spokesman, said that the administration was "uncomfortable with the idea at this time."

Another case in point? Gail Katz-James, a Kagan cousin, gave an interview shortly after the nomination was announced describing the "verbal sparring" around the dinner table in the Kagans' Upper West Side apartment. When contacted by the same reporter two days later, Ms. Katz-James said: "I'm sorry. I'm not able to talk to you." She was asked if the White House had directed her not to talk to the press. "Nope," she said, and hung up the phone. (source)

The Obama administration, already infamous for keeping much of the president's life story and the players in it hidden from those he is sworn to serve, now seems to be doing the same with Nominee Kagan. Is this simply the action of a regime that is obsessed with information control or is there something specific about this potential Supreme Court Justice they are desperate to keep hidden? Given the difference between the Sotomayor approach (which worked out well for the administration) and the Kagan information lockdown, it certainly seems like the latter.