Anti-Military Views Place Elena Kagan Well Outside the American Mainstream

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May 10, 2010, 01:59 ET

WASHINGTON, May 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This morning President Obama announced his nominee to the nation's highest court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement:

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080930/FRCLOGO)

"Elena Kagan's lack of legal experience will be discussed by both sides of the aisle but her record of liberal activism should not be overlooked.

"As the Harvard Law School Dean, Elena Kagan tried to bar the military from recruiting on her law school's campus during the height of the Iraq War based on her opposition to the federal law restricting homosexuals in the military. She fought the issue all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled unanimously against her, an extraordinary rebuke to her legal and substantive reasoning.

"Ms. Kagan's incredibly hostile view of the military suggests she is out of touch with mainstream sensibilities and obedience to the rule of law. President Obama promised a nominee committed to the 'rule of law,' but, instead, he appears to have nominated a hard-left activist to the Supreme Court.

"Additionally in her brief tenure as Solicitor General she argued that the federal government has the power, under campaign finance laws, to ban certain books and pamphlets. Responding to this argument of Ms. Kagan, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, 'As a free-floating test for First Amendment coverage, that (proposition) is startling and dangerous.'

"During her confirmation hearings for Solicitor General, Ms. Kagan found it difficult to be forthcoming with her answers. That should not be permitted when she is considered for a permanent position on our nation's highest court.

"Ms. Kagan has called for the Senate to use the Supreme Court confirmation hearings 'to engage nominees in meaningful discussion of legal issues,' and said that a nominee's views on issues are fair game to be discussed. The U.S. Senate should evaluate her nomination by the very standards she set for this process. The Senate has a responsibility to present an accurate picture of her judicial philosophy before voting on her nomination."

SOURCE Family Research Council