Sen. Al Franken used his opening remarks at Solicitor General Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearing as a forum for his critique of the Roberts court, with very little reference to Kagan's background or qualifications.

Speaking last on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Franken focused sharply on the court's decision in the Citizens United case earlier this year, which overturned a century's worth of campaign finance law and allowed corporations and unions to spend money on election ads endorsing or opposing candidates.

"There is such a thing as judicial activism," Franken said. "There is such a thing as legislating from the bench, and it is practiced repeatedly by the Roberts court, where it has cut in only one direction: in favor of powerful corporate interests and against the rights of individual Americans."

The Citizens United case, Franken said, affects more than just federal elections, but "Duluth elections, Bemidji elections, Minnesota elections," despite the state banning all corporate election spending in 1988.

Franken said that several recent decisions stripping individuals' rights have been decided in 5-4 rulings, with retiring Justice John Paul Stevens leading the dissent. "General Kagan, you've got big shoes to fill," he said.

Franken took a similar tact going after the Roberts court last year at Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing. Since then, he said, "I think things have only gotten worse."