Byron York posted an article at the Washington Examiner yesterday wondering whether the Senate will have access to all of Elena Kagan's papers during the confirmation process. Mr. York reminds us that when John Roberts was examined, all of his work done at the Reagan White House Counsel's Office during the 1980's was provided to the Senate when they asked for it. With that precedent set, it will be difficult to withhold Elena Kagan's papers generated during her time in the Clinton White House Counsel's Office in 1995 and1996.
The only questionable item that I have come across in Ms. Kagan's background is a controversy she was involved in while serving in the Clinton White House in 1996.
"...the Clinton administration was accused of siding with a group of radical environmentalists locked in a standoff with federal agents in Oregon. Officials at the U.S. Forest Service suspected that a staffer at the White House Council on Environmental Quality tipped off the protesters about a coming federal crackdown.
"The situation drew the attention of Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources, who found that Kagan, in the White House Counsel's Office, did little, if anything, to find or punish the leaker, even though that person had revealed confidential information that potentially endangered the lives of Forest Service agents. GOP investigators asked for Kagan's notes on the matter at the time, but the White House refused, claiming executive privilege."
It is not a surprise that a Supreme Court nominee of Barack Obama would be liberal. The question is whether or not she believes in enforcing laws equally regardless of who is involved.
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