Supreme Court nominee Solicitor General Elena Kagan meets with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the Capitol Building in Washington on May 12, 2010. UPI/Kevin Dietsch |
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WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he doesn't believe Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan can apply the law impartially.
Citing documents from her time in the administration of President Bill Clinton, McConnell, R-Ky., said Kagan's notes reveal "a woman who was committed to advancing a political agenda -- a woman who was less concerned about objectively analyzing the law than the ways in which the law could be used to advance a political goal," The New York Times reported Wednesday.
One of Kagan's handwritten notes from 1997 noted that a ban on "soft money" -- campaign contributions to parties and not to individual candidates -- "affects Repubs, not Dems!" the Times said.
McConnell cited another informally written note addressing a proposal to offer free TV time for candidates in which Kagan wrote, "Free TV as balance to indep expends?? Clearly on mind of Dems -- need a way to ctrbalance this."
"These memos and notes reveal a woman whose approach to the law was as a political advocate -- the very opposite of what the American people expect in a judge," McConnell said.
"The question before the Senate is whether, given Ms. Kagan's background as a political adviser and academic, we believe she could impartially apply the law to groups with which she doesn't agree and for which she and the Obama administration might not empathize. So far, I don't have that confidence."
Also Wednesday, former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork criticized Kagan's praise of former Israeli Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak, believed by many conservatives to be an "activist" judge, Politico reported.
Bork, in a conference call sponsored by anti-abortion group Americans United for Life, said Barak is "the worst judge on the planet."
"I think it's disqualifying in and of itself," Bork said of Kagan, who has called Barak "my judicial hero."
The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin confirmation hearings Monday, and a full Senate vote is expected by August.
