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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Kagan Defends Approach To Military Recruiting


Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan answers questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, the second day of her confirmation hearings.

Published: June 29, 2010

by Carrie Johnson

Elena Kagan's treatment of military recruiters at Harvard Law School took center stage Tuesday on her second day of confirmation hearings to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

In tones at times emotional and steely, Kagan defended her record as a Harvard dean and expressed her respect for students who belonged to the military.

"This has been a sort of long process, and sometimes an arduous one," Kagan said. "I only cried once," when she read a favorable opinion piece by Marine Corps Capt. Robert Merrill, a former student now in Afghanistan.

Kagan, the Obama administration's current solicitor general, asserted that "military recruiters had access to Harvard students every single day I was dean." She did not back down, even when Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, challenged her veracity about the atmosphere she fostered on campus.

Senate conservatives have criticized Kagan for her role in reinstating a ban on military recruiters using career service facilities on the Harvard campus because the "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays violated the university's anti-discrimination policy. Harvard Law School still allowed recruiting through student groups.
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