By Kimberly Atkins
The Daily Record Newswire
Want to know a little more about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan? You’re in luck!
Earlier this week, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions released Kagan’s answers to the committee’s questionnaire. Her responses detail a host of facts about the nominee, from her net worth (approximately $1.8 million), to a list of every occasion where she has given a speech, to a list of just about every news article in which she’s been quoted.
And perhaps she was trying to be as thorough as possible, or perhaps she was trying to demonstrate her sense of humor, but she noted the following about an article that contained quotes from her:
“An April Fool’s article in the Harvard Law Record entitled, ‘Administration Cuts Internet in Classrooms’ contains made-up quotes attributed to me. Although I did not give these quotes or provide an interview for this article, I am including it as an attachment.”
DC Dicta did notice one omission in the long list of articles in which she was quoted. In 2003 Kagan was interviewed by Lawyers USA. In that piece, written soon after Kagan took the helm at Harvard Law School, Kagan spoke of how her experience working in the White House might help her as dean:
“In government, one of the things I had to do was manage people,” Kagan told Stephenson, “and certainly one of the tasks of a dean is management. I also learned some political skills, and certainly deans who have good political skills have an advantage over deans who don’t.”
Perhaps the same can be said of Supreme Court justices.
Leahy said yesterday that the White House has already asked the Clinton Library to speed up the process of producing documents from Kagan’s time in the Clinton White House as associate counsel and as a domestic policy adviser. “These materials, along with the record we compiled last year in connection with her nomination to be Solicitor General of the United States, put us well down the road toward our preparation for her confirmation hearing,” Leahy said.
The Senate confirmation hearing will kick off Monday, June 28, Leahy announced Tuesday.
Leahy said the timeline closely reflects the confirmation schedules of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose confirmation hearings began 48 and 49 days after nomination, respectively. Kagan’s hearing is schedule for 49 days after nomination.
“There is no reason to unduly delay consideration of this nomination,” Leahy said. “Justice Stevens announced on April 9 that he would be leaving the Court. He noted that ‘it would be in the best interests of the Court to have [his] successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the Court’s next Term,’ and I wholeheartedly agree with Justice Stevens. That is in the best interests of the Court, and the country.”
Ranking Republican member Sen. Jeff Sessions had expressed a desire the start the hearings after July 4, but said today that it was Leahy’s prerogative to set the date.
“At this time, it remains to be seen whether the schedule set by the Chairman will be adequate to allow us to meet our important constitutional responsibility to thoroughly review Ms. Kagan’s record on behalf of the American people and to hold respectful and substantive hearings that reflect well on both our Committee and the entire Senate,” Sessions said in a statement. “Additionally, as I told Chairman Leahy, developments may occur during the course of such a review that simply require additional time-such as issues relating to document production or the need for more information connected with substantive controversies. If that is the case, we would be obligated to demand additional time.”
