GOP Senator Questions Nominee's Politics and Ability to Ignore Them on Bench; Dem Calls Her "Inordinately Qualified"
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DAVID RIEDEL
Solicitor General Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court by President Obama has been met with mixed reactions - praise by many Democrats and criticism by many Republicans, with much discussion over her position on terrorism.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has already spoken out strongly against Kagan. On Sunday the Republican said that, with the United States fighting two wars, there was no place for an "anti-military" Justice on the Supreme Court.
On CBS' "Face the Nation" this morning, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) called Gingrich's contention that Kagan is anti-military "nonsense."
"I think it's Gingrich hyperbole. I hope no one would fall for that," she told anchor Bob Schieffer.
Also appearing on the program was another member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, John Kyl (R-Ariz.), who said he didn't know whether Kagan was anti-military, but that her experience as Dean of Harvard Law School criticizing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy would come up in the confirmation hearings.
One problem Kyl has with Kagan is her position on terrorism. He said that in 2005 he and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) drafted a law in which terrorists were deemed "enemy combatants" and that Kagan opposed the bill (which was eventually passed).
Reading from notes he had with him, Kyl said, "She compared our bill to the 'fundamentally lawless actions of dictators.'
"Now, that's not very judicious, and I don't know whether she would recuse herself from cases that involved those kinds of questions, but it is certainly a question that I'm going to have to ask her: Can she lay those political views aside when she deals with a case concerning terrorists?"
When asked what Feinstein thought of Kyl's concerns, she said, "I'm not aware of this, so I've got to look into it much more deeply."
Feinstein added, "I don't happen to support the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. That doesn't mean I'm 'anti-military.'"
Citing Kagan's credentials, Feinstein said, "This is an inordinately qualified woman. [I]t's not easy to be summa cum laude from Yale, go to Oxford, be summa cum laude when you get your law degree from Harvard, be professor of law at the University of Chicago, dean of the Harvard School, adviser to the president, and the top lawyer for the government before the Supreme Court."
Kyl, who voted in favor of Kagan for her current position as Solicitor General, said that vote does not necessarily mean he'll vote for her confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice.
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