Elena Kagan fields questions: campaign finance,military recruits, second amendment

Over hours of confirmation hearings yesterday, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan faced tough questioning from senior members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. For nearly twenty minutes, ranking Republican Jeff Sessions asked Kagan about her policies banning military recruiters from campus while she was the dean of Harvard Law School. Kagan repeatedly said recruiters were never banned and that she always complied with the law, as she saw it. In response, Sessions told the nominee her remarks were “unconnected to reality.”

Later in the day, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch from Utah explained his personal frustrations with criticisms on Citizens United v. FEC, the controversial campaign finance ruling by the Supreme Court. Kagan argued the case on behalf of the federal government as Solicitor General and maintained that as a justice, she would respect “settled law” and Supreme Court “precedent.” It was the same answer she used when asked about the Second Amendment and Roe v. Wade.

For further analysis on Elena Kagan’s first day of questioning, we talk with Annette Gordon-Reed, professor of law at New York Law School. She will be joining the faculty of Harvard Law School as of Thursday.