Jess Bravin at WSJ performs a public service, and goes through Kagan’s grades from her first year at Harvard Law School.

• Torts- B-
• Criminal Law- B
• Administrative Law- B+
• All other classes- A or A-

Are her grades a good reflection? Professor Frank Michelman wrote in a letter of recommendation to Justice Marshall:

“I am looking at her transcript as I write, and there’s just no doubt that her first-year spring-term grades…not the [lower] fall-term ones, are the true reflection of her capacity and her learning.”

I wish I could just write off my first-year fall-term grades.