Elena Kagan Endorsed By 10 Former Solicitors General
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WASHINGTON — Liberal and conservative former solicitors general going back 25 years endorsed Elena Kagan on Tuesday for the Supreme Court, even as Republicans stepped up their criticism of President Barack Obama's nominee.
In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, 10 lawyers named by Republican and Democratic presidents to represent the government before the Supreme Court said Kagan would serve there with distinction. The group included noted conservatives Ted Olson and Ken Starr, the prosecutor who investigated President Bill Clinton while Kagan served in his administration.
A third GOP-named former solicitor general who signed the letter, Paul Clement, joined a conference call organized by the White House to praise Kagan.
"It's hard to imagine a position that would lead to an easier transition to the work of a Supreme Court justice than the work of a solicitor general," said Clement, who served under President George W. Bush. "Elena is going to come to the court as someone who's very familiar with the work of the court, the rhythm of the court, the kind of cases they have to deal with."
The White House has worked to highlight such conservative praise of Kagan, hoping to give cover to Republicans who might be inclined to support her and deprive GOP critics of ammunition to use against her.
Still, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, is stepping up his criticism. The committee will conduct Kagan's confirmation hearings starting next week.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Sessions called Kagan "dangerous" and suggested he was more worried about her becoming a justice than he had been about Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court appointment.
"This is a very young nominee, with a very thin legal record, a very strong commitment to politics and liberal causes and an ideology of judging that seems to favor and respect judges who advance the law beyond its plain meaning," Sessions said. "In many ways, I'm feeling this is a more dangerous nominee."
Sessions has complained in recent weeks that documents from Kagan's stints as a Clinton White House lawyer and domestic policy adviser were emerging too slowly and too late to allow senators to thoroughly vet her.
More files emerged Tuesday showing, among other things, that Kagan was a legal point person for Clinton's White House on a type of procedure critics call partial birth abortion. And as domestic policy adviser, she and her boss Bruce Reed appear to have requested that top presidential advisers draft an executive order prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The documents also show that Kagan was in charge of collecting records subpoenaed by the Republican-led House Government Reform and Oversight Committee for its investigation of firings at the White House travel office in the first months of the Clinton administration.
Seth P. Waxman, who held Kagan's post during the Clinton administration, said her performance as solicitor general shows she'd be able to be an impartial justice.
"She's demonstrated that ability to put aside her personal views pursuant to her professional responsibilities," Waxman said.
Kagan stepped aside from her job as solicitor general last month to focus on winning confirmation.
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Associated Press writers Gerald Bodlander, Jesse J. Holland, Ann Sanner and Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
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JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS 06/22/10 05:42 PM ET Associated Press