June 24, 2010 2:16 PM
ABC News' Rick Klein reports: Despite concerns about access to documents – and suggestions that Republicans might boycott confirmation hearings because of those concerns – Senate Republicans plan on being in the hearing Monday when Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearings begin, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said today.
But Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said on ABC/Washington Post’s “Top Line” that he’s not prepared to rule out the possibility of a GOP filibuster of Kagan’s confirmation.
“We're determined to be there if we possibly can, but we really didn't -- we have a troubling record here about the documents,” Sessions told us. “Sen. [Patrick] Leahy and I requested all e-mails [from the Clinton presidential library] that mentioned Ms. Kagan in them. Those were just not produced, with no real explanation why they weren’t. And in addition, they've declared 1,600 of the documents ‘personal privacy’ records and failed to produce them...
“There's no certification that all the documents have been produced. So I go into it uneasy that we may not have received all the documents that really should have been produced,” Sessions said.
Sessions has opposed filibusters of judges in the past. But he said he’s adhering to the now-famous “extraordinary circumstances” standard, as set by a group of senators who came together to keep the filibuster of judges alive as a possibility in 2005, in deciding whether a filibuster would be warranted on Kagan.
“I’ve opposed, really, previously, the filibuster of Supreme Court nominees. But after the ‘Gang of 14,’ if you recall, worked out some sort of arrangement … a sort of gentlemen's agreement -- unless there was ‘extraordinary circumstances’ [there would not be a filibuster]. I opposed Justice [Sonia] Sotomayor, for example, but did not filibuster her. And we'll just have to see how the hearing goes. I don't think it's something you should lightly do, to filibuster a nominee.”
Asked if he’d rule that possibility out, Sessions said: “No. I think we'll have to see what the facts, and how the hearing goes, and to whether or not extraordinary circumstances could develop -- I just don't know. I hope not.”
Sessions goes into the hearing extremely skeptical about whether he can support Kagan, citing concerns about her judicial philosophy, plus her decision to bar military recruiters from Harvard Law School’s Office of Career Services while she served as the school’s dean.
Sessions said Kagan’s record -- more than her testimony next week -- will be critical in his making a final judgment.
“What you see at the hearing has got to be looked at a little bit jaundiced here. We need -- the record is important. Who she admires in the judiciary and what kind of philosophies -- they have would indicate to me the kind of judge she would like to be, if she is made a part of the judiciary. So we're going to be looking at her record, the people she admires and has written about, and the kind of ideology that she brings to bear to it.”
“You can be a political liberal -- which she absolutely is -- and contain that on the bench. But if your philosophy is like some of the judges who believe that you can allow those beliefs and values to influence how you interpret the words of the Constitution, then that's a dangerous thing and really shouldn't be on the bench.”
Sessions added: “She absolutely was a firm political operative in the Clinton White House for five years, but in truth, that shouldn't disqualify. The question is, ‘How do you view your role as a judge? Can you put that aside? Will you put that aside? Or are those political views so strong that you will -- and your view of a judge's role -- such that you feel that you can make policy from the bench?’ And that's what the American people don't appreciate.”
For our “Post Politics” segment, we checked in with Dana Milbank of The Washington Post on some remarkable second acts from political figures – from former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s colorful trial, to former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s new career as a cable TV host, and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s new job in a kosher pizzeria in Baltimore.
(And Milbank agrees with Blagojevich, D-Ill., that he’d potentially have made a good US ambassador the United Nations.)
Watch our chat with Dana Milbank HERE.
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