Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday that Solicitor General Elena Kagan should withdraw for the nomination to be a Supreme Court justice.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Gingrich said Kagan holds anti-military views.
“I think the president should withdraw it,” Gingrich said of Kagan’s nomination. “You don’t need a lot of hearings. The very fact that she led the effort which was repudiated unanimously by the Supreme Court to block the American military from Harvard Law school — we’re in two wars, and I see no reason why you would appoint an anti-military Supreme Court justice or why the Senate would confirm an anti-military Supreme Court justice.”
He also expressed concerns that, as dean of Harvard Law School, she accepted donations to the school from Saudi Arabia. For more, see this Huffington Post write-up.
White House officials pushed back on a claim in a Washington Post story from last week that administration aides specifically asked Kagan whether she was gay during the interview process. The Post story, which ran Friday, cited former White House communications director Anita Dunn as saying that officials asked Kagan about her sexual orientation while she was being vetted for the Solicitor General post. In a piece published on The Huffington Post later Friday, an unnamed White House aide rejected that description, saying Kagan volunteered the information while being interviewed about the Supreme Court vacancy.
The Wall Street Journal looks at more memos from Kagan’s time as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. In two 1987 memos to the justice, Kagan took a broad view of the powers granted in the 14th Amendment — which bars states from abridging “the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” In one memo, she suggested the amendment would permit lawsuits against state officials who recklessly disregard their duties.
The New York Times reports that the White House has asked the National Archives to expedite the release of thousands of documents and e-mails from Kagan’s time at the Clinton White House. The archives is working to redact and release 160,000 pages of documents.
