GOP promises tough questions for Kagan

Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate
Judiciary Committee, as well as Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), warned of a tough
grilling session from Republicans throughout the week. They said they would focus
mainly on what they considered her lack of “real legal experience” and years
spent in policy and politics.

“It is not a coronation, but a confirmation,” Sessions told a packed Senate
Judiciary hearing room.

Kagan, clad in a brilliant royal-blue suit and pearls, calmly listened while
each senator gave opening statements.

{mosads}Before the hearing began, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) ushered Kagan to a table where
she sat alone. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) gave her a friendly wave as she
waited for the hearing to begin.

Sessions quickly criticized the short time Kagan has spent practicing law, the
fact that she has never tried a case before a jury, never served as a judge,
her master’s thesis on socialism in New York and her time spent in the Clinton
White House, as well as her decision to reverse Harvard’s existing military recruitment policy and
kicking the military out of the recruiting office.

“This all sounds a lot like the progressive philosophy, which became fashionable
among elite intellectuals a century ago — and which is now seeing a revival,”
Sessions said. “They saw the Constitution as an outdated impediment to their
expansive vision for a new social and political order in America.”

Republicans would seem to have little chance of derailing Kagan’s nomination given the Democrats’ majority in the Senate. But the GOP hopes to have several rounds of tough questions for President Barack Obama’s second Supreme Court nominee.

Leahy aggressively defended Kagan’s experience and
record and noted that her confirmation would make her the fourth woman to serve
on the Supreme Court, which he described as a high-water mark in history.

“I believe that fair-minded people will find her judicial philosophy well
within the legal mainstream,” Leahy said. “I welcome questions to Solicitor General
Kagan about judicial independence, but let us be fair. Let us listen to her
answers. There is no basis to question her integrity and on one should presume
that this intelligent woman, who has excelled during every part of her varied
and distinguished career, lacks independence.”

Kagan will tell senators the Supreme Court is a “modest” institution that
should be “properly deferential” to Congress, according to excerpts of Kagan’s
planned remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee released early by the
White House.

The remarks show Kagan will make a point of defining the Court’s role in
government as limited.

“[T]he Supreme Court is a wondrous institution,” Kagan will say. “But the time
I spent in the other branches of government remind me that it must also be a
modest one — properly deferential to the decisions of the American people and
their elected representatives.”

— Sam Youngman contributed to this story.