WASHINGTON — Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is insisting the senate review documents from Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s time in the Clinton administration before holding a confirmation hearing. Kagan served as both a lawyer and policy advisor to President Bill Clinton.
Cornyn said the 160,000 pages of documents the White House has requested from the Clinton Presidential Library are essential to determining Kagan’s judicial views and opinions.
“I think it would be a mistake to hold the hearing until we have a chance to see those documents and any other documents that might exist,” said Cornyn. “Because she has no judicial experience and she has very little experience as a practicing lawyer, I think those documents may well hold the best clue as to her views and attitudes in terms of the role of the federal government and how she would perform as a Supreme Court justice.”
Kagan currently serves as Solicitor General of the United States and previously worked as dean of Harvard Law School and as an Associate White House Counsel and later policy adviser under President Clinton. Cornyn said her lack of judicial experience makes it difficult to determine how she would act on the Supreme Court.
“Obviously she has not served as a judge before,” said Cornyn, “which is not a disqualifier, but we don’t have that part of her record to learn how she would perform.”
He said the only way the senate can understand how she would perform is by reviewing documents from her time in the Clinton administration.
“Apparently there are notations that she has made on documents, drafts and suggestions that I think might reflect her views,” said Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings on Kagan’s confirmation.
Cornyn met with Kagan in his office Tuesday and asked her about the documents. “Rather than a lack of information she thinks were going to have a lot of it about her views, about her attitudes and her activities while serving at the White House.”
He also asked her opinion regarding limits on the power of the federal government.
“She gave me the right answer,” said Cornyn. “There are very few cases where the courts have actually limited the federal government’s authority. If the courts are not going to hold Congress accountable to the limited nature of the federal government’s powers, who can do that, except for the citizens. She agreed, I think, as a general concept.”
Yet he refrained from asking her about her views on the military. Kagan’s opinions of the military have been scrutinized because she fought to bar military recruiters from Harvard Law School’s campus in opposition to the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.
“I remain very concerned about her treatment of the military, both recruiters and actual individuals who participated in the [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps] program at Harvard when she was there,” said Cornyn.
Kagan also met with other members of the Senate Judiciary committee Tuesday.