Republicans challenge Kagan on military at Harvard

Challenged by Republicans, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan said Tuesday the Pentagon's recruiters had access to Harvard Law School students "every single day I was dean" and rejected GOP claims she maneuvered to thwart them.

"I'm just a little taken aback by the tone of your remarks because it is unconnected to reality," retorted Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, first Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to question President Barack Obama's choice for the high court in public.

Said Kagan: "I respect and indeed I revere the military."

The exchange came little more than an hour into a full day of questioning by members of the panel, which will vote first on Kagan's appointment to succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Barring a major gaffe, the 50-year old Obama administration solicitor general appears well on her way toward confirmation in time to take her seat before the court opens a new term in October.

Kagan also spoke favorably of televising Supreme Court proceedings. "It would be a great thing for the court, and it would be a great thing for the American people," she said.

But she was far less forthcoming when asked whether she believed the Supreme Court had erred last winter in ruling that corporations and unions were free to spend their own funds on political activity.

Kagan said that as solicitor general, she had argued the government's side of the case, which turned out to be a loser in a 5-4 ruling. Pressed to say what her personal views were, she said, "I did believe we had a strong case to make. I tried to make it to the best of my ability," she said.

When Sen. Orrin Hatch R-Utah, returned to the subject, she said the issue was now settled law as a result of the ruling.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the committee's chairman, was first to broach the military recruiting controversy, raising the issue that Republicans had often cited in pre-hearing criticism of Kagan.

"I've only cried once during this process," Kagan said, recalling her reaction to an op-ed article praising her for her treatment of the military, a commentary written by a Marine captain and 2008 graduate of Harvard Law.

The hearings turned testy when Sessions returned to the issue of the military's presence at Harvard Law School, and a controversy that arose when she blocked recruiters from the career services office.

She has said she acted because the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bars openly gay men and women from serving, was a violation of the university's anti-discrimination rules. And that as an alternative, she encouraged a campus veterans group to facilitate the Pentagon's recruitment of students.

Sessions disputed Kagan's version of events, saying that for one recruiting season "you gave them (the Pentagon) the runaround. ... You've continued to persist with this view that somehow there was a loophole in the statute that Harvard didn't have to comply with."

Kagan gave no ground, countering that "military recruiting went up that year, not down," when Pentagon's representatives worked through the veterans office on campus.

Responding to Sessions on another issue, Kagan refused to describe her political views as "progressive in the mold" of the president who twice has appointed her to important jobs.

She also sidestepped when the Alabama Republican, citing a characterization by a senior White House official, sought to label her as a "legal progressive."

"I honestly don't know what that label means," she said. "I've served in two Democratic administrations. ... You can tell something about me and my political views from that."

Kagan also declined when Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., asked for her views of the other members of the court she hopes to join. She said it would be a "bad idea" for her to talk about current justices, drawing laughter from a crowded hearing room.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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