There is a lot of legitimate concern amongst both Democrats and Republicans about what type of justice Solicitor General Elena Kagan might be on the U.S. Supreme Court, a week after she was named by President Obama to be his choice to succeed John Paul Stevens on the high court.
On ABC's This Week on Sunday, host Jake Tapper, after asking some preliminary questions, then hit the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alabama's Jeff Sessions, on whether he had any concerns about Kagan being gay (this week friends of Kagan have said she is not).,
Except Tapper did not want to put the words "Kagan" and "gay" in the same sentence, lest he be accused of tarring the 50-year-old native New Yorker with what is still considered an epithet in some quarters.
TAPPER: In the last week, we were told by the White House that after a blog post went up at CBSnews.com that incorrectly said that Elena Kagan was not straight — and again, that is not true — but Elena Kagan went to the White House, said this is not true, I am straight. How far is too far when looking into a nominee's personal life?
SESSIONS: I think you've got to be careful about that. I don't believe that is a fundamental judgment call on whether a person can be a good judge or not. We need to know how able they are to ascertain the real legal issues in a case and deciding it fairly and justly. Will they restrain their personal political views and follow the law faithfully and serve under the Constitution? That's the fundamental test in personal integrity. So those are questions that go to the heart of whether a person will be an able judge or not.
The main issue that has conservatives (and some liberals – or at least one, journalist Peter Beinart) hot and bothered about her record was her handling of military recruitment as dean at Harvard Law School. That's when she followed the school's antidiscrimination policy over a Congressional act denying federal funds to universities barring military recruiters.
This article appears in May 13-19, 2010.