As Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan gears up for hearing in which she is sure to come under fire from conservatives who oppose her on principal plus some Republicans who oppose her as way to weaken President Barack Obama and slow down his agenda, there is a sign that she may go into the hearings enjoying some support on two issues from one segment of the Republican party: some of the few remaining Republican moderates.
The operative word here is “may” since CNN has noted this tidbit in a story — and look for talk radio hosts to start urging listeners to call the offices of any GOPers who seem to be considering going along with the Kagan nomination and for these GOPers to start being told that they’ll be opposed for re-election if they don’t follow unofficial party line which can be boiled down in two words: oppose Obama.
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan received critical cover from moderate Republicans on Thursday on two issues likely to dominate her upcoming confirmation hearings: gays in the military and judicial experience.
Kagan has been strongly criticized by GOP leaders for her efforts to block military recruiters from Harvard University during her time as the school’s law school dean because of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The policy, opposed by President Obama, prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces.
Top Republicans have also highlighted the fact that Kagan has never served as a federal judge, something that distinguishes her from all nine current members of the high court.
If party moderates break from the GOP leadership on these issues, it dramatically increases Kagan’s chances of overcoming a possible filibuster and winning confirmation as the country’s 112th Supreme Court justice.
The two moderates giving signs that they may be open to less than lockstep reaction to Kagan’s appointment: Massachusetts Sen. Brown and Maine Sen. Susan Collins:Massachusetts GOP Sen. Scott Brown — who broke the Democrats’ 60-member filibuster-proof majority by winning the late Ted Kennedy’s seat in January — said after meeting with Kagan that he is satisfied she supports members of the military.
“It was the first question I actually asked her because, having been in the military, I had concerns about [her] position at Harvard,” Brown said.
“It was very clear to me, after we spoke about it at length, that she is supportive of the men and women who are fighting to protect us and very supportive of the military as a whole. I do not feel that her judicial philosophy will hurt the men and women who are serving.”
While dean at Harvard Law, Kagan said she “abhorred” the military’s “discriminatory recruitment policy.” She called it “a profound wrong — a moral injustice of the first order.”
Kagan supported other schools’ challenges to a federal law requiring that recruiters be given equal access or face the loss of federal funding. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law in 2006.
Meanwhile, Collins indicated after meeting with Kagan that she was reasssured by the meeting:
Earlier in the day, Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins said she doesn’t have any concerns about Kagan’s experience. She also said she didn’t see any “extraordinary circumstances” that could lead her to join a potential filibuster against Kagan.Collins said that Kagan told her she considers Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 ruling establishing a constitutional right to abortion, to be settled law. Kagan herself has remained tight-lipped when asked such questions from reporters.
The support of Brown and Collins alone, combined with a unified Democratic caucus, would be enough to ensure Kagan’s confirmation.
Stating Monday expect to see Brown and Collins under pressure starting with the talk show hosts who as usual essentially set the strategy, followed by some websites. This one/two punch of talk shows host articulating a strategy which is then is echoed by demands on the internet, and a sea of emails and phone calls to offices seems to be the new pattern. It seems less likely to work in the case of Kagan, however, since there are no signs that she will face a filibuster or that — this early on at least — she has aroused huge passions to stop her at all costs (that sentiment may be greater among a small segment of some Democratic party liberals).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.