From this morning's Earlybird:

• The Washington Post reports on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's dual approach to military recruiters on Harvard's campus: "While staking out a tough stance against the recruiting, because of the military's ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly, she simultaneously maneuvered to facilitate it behind the scenes."

Elena Kagan's lack of judicial experience shouldn't hurt her chances for confirmation, a former justice and a current justice said today. Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said more than one-third of all justices have not been judges, telling ABC's "Good Morning America" today that Kagan appeared to be "very well qualified academically." O'Connor's comments came one day after Justice Antonin Scalia said in a Catholic University speech that he was "happy to see that this latest nominee is not a federal judge, and not a judge at all." Some Republicans, while noting they expect Kagan to be confirmed, have expressed concern about her lack of time on the bench.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Senate Republicans rallied Tuesday around a demand by the Judiciary Committee ranking member" Jeff Sessions of Alabama "that thousands of pages of Clinton-era documents be released before hearings begin on Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination," Roll Call reports.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., played the gender card in an increasingly pointed fight with committee Republicans over Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's qualifications and the schedule for confirming her.

Leahy responded this morning to a Monday speech by Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., questioning Kagan's record and suggesting a June 28 committee hearing should be delayed until records from Kagan's work in the Clinton White House are available. Leahy noted the time between the nominations of Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and their committee hearings would be almost the identical to that now set for Kagan and said he was "amazed, flabbergasted," by Sessions' request.

"When a Republican president nominated a man to the Supreme Court, the schedule was fine," Leahy said. "When a Democratic president nominated women to the Supreme Court on exactly the same schedule, suddenly it's not a fair schedule. Well maybe I'm old fashioned, maybe I'm influenced by my wife, my daughter, my three granddaughters. But I think the rules ought to be the same for men and for women. So that's why the schedule is the same."

That statement was not in Leahy's prepared remarks, which were more muted on the role of Kagan's gender. Leahy's prepared statement did say that "Senate Republicans are moving the goal posts, and shifting the standard from when the Senate considered the Roberts and [Samuel] Alito nominations. Republicans should not apply a double standard to the nomination of this qualified woman." An aide said that comparison referred to standards for document requests.

Leahy also ripped Republicans for faulting Kagan's lack of judicial experience when "they are themselves responsible" for blocking her nomination to an appellate court.

"I welcome questions to Solicitor General Kagan about judicial independence, but let us be fair," he said. "Let us listen to her answers. There are those on the extreme right who are spoiling for a fight. The overheated rhetoric ought to be set aside."

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The National Football League gets no pass from the nation's antitrust laws, the Supreme Court held Monday," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Despite the coordination needed to run the sports league, the NFL isn't a single entity but rather a consortium of 32 separately owned teams that compete with one another, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for a unanimous court."

From this morning's Earlybird:

• Roll Call (subscription) reports on the Internet battle over Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights' cautious support for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has sparked a fight among two member Catholic organizations.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced on Wednesday that it would withdraw from the Leadership Conference. Bishop William Murphy, chairman of the U.S. conference's Committee on Domestic Justice and Peace, explained in the press release that the interests of the two groups has "diverged" in recent years as "LCCR has moved beyond advocacy of traditional civil rights to advocacy of positions which do not reflect the principles and policies of the bishops' conference."

LCCR spokesman Jeff Miller said that while the group has "not yet issued a formal endorsement of her confirmation," they have "been generally supportive" of Kagan for the high court.

The progressive nonprofit Catholics United argued that the bishops' decision was inconsistent, since they did not criticize LCCR's endorsement of Sonia Sotomayor. Catholics United Executive Director Chris Korzen attributed the about-face to pressure from the Republican Party, particularly from a campaign led by former Bush political adviser Deal Hudson.

"A lot of these conservative groups are essentially bullying the Catholic bishops, and the bishops are unfortunately following their lead and crafting their public action in a way that supports these conservative groups' political agenda," Korzen told National Journal.com.

The U.S. Conference did not respond to requests for comment.

Before President Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, the overwhelming weight of conventional wisdom held that a big battle was certain to erupt. The Republican base had to be fed, so this narrative went, especially a scant six months before Election Day.

But Obama was clearly not looking for a fight that might have derailed legislative priorities such as financial reform. In choosing Kagan, the president effectively anesthetized many of the hard-chargers on the right, because she hasn't written or said much to illuminate her views on hot-button issues. Sure, GOP lawmakers have raised questions about Kagan's lack of experience on the bench, and some even argue that she is hostile toward the military. But they don't have much on which to base an all-out attack.

The muted conservative response is in marked contrast to the unease among some liberal activists toward Kagan. Obama, they say, made a "safe choice" that was more appropriate for a Senate with a 52-seat Democratic majority rather than the 59-seat advantage (counting independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont) that the party holds. These disappointed liberals say that Obama, once again, has turned his back on them.

"I am not surprised that the president didn't pick someone who has a very clear and unambiguous record of support for women's rights and constitutional liberties," said Kate Michelman, the former longtime president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. "The president hasn't used every opportunity that he could to demonstrate his commitment to reproductive rights.

Subscribers can read the full story in this week's National Journal.

Senate Judiciary Committee members sparred over the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan this morning amid news that the tens of thousands of documents relating to her service in the Clinton White House may not be produced before the start of her recently scheduled June 28 confirmation hearing.

Ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said he was told by Clinton Library officials late Wednesday that the release of the documents might be delayed because each must be vetted for legal issues. Although the documents are supposed to be available for perusal before June 28, "that is not happening," Sessions complained to Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "I don't know how we can have the hearings if we don't have the documents."

Leahy promptly indicated he was not inclined to consider a postponement. He noted that when 15,000 documents on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts arrived only hours before the beginning of his confirmation hearings in 2003, "the procedure was acceptable at that time to Republicans."

Sessions has suggested the Kagan hearings be put off until after the July 4 recess but has not formally requested a postponement. "I am not prepared to do that unless things get serious," he said.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Organizing for America, the grass-roots arm of the Democratic National Committee, unveiled a new website Wednesday aimed at building support for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan in the lead-up to her confirmation hearings in late June," Roll Call reports.

(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Nearly half of Americans say they do not know enough about Solicitor General Elena Kagan to judge whether she should be confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice, according to a new poll.

The Society for Human Resource Management/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, conducted with the Pew Research Center, found that 33 percent said she should be confirmed, 21 percent said she should not be confirmed and a whopping 46 percent volunteered that they did not know.

The number of people who do not know about Kagan is likely to change as the Senate moves into the confirmation process, starting with a June 28 hearing that Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy announced this morning.

For the complete results, check out the Congressional Connection Poll

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., today sent a joint request to the Clinton presidential library in Arkansas for documents from Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's time in the Clinton White House as associate counsel in 1995-1996 and as deputy director of the domestic policy counsel in 1997-1999.

The letter seeks records for Kagan's staff files; records related to her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which never received a floor vote; her e-mails; and other documents she edited, helped prepare or is referenced in.

The request comes on the heels of Leahy's announcement this morning of a June 28 hearing date. Sessions and other Republicans had sought a hearing after the July recess and immediately said the final week of June leaves too little time to review Kagan's record. Sessions suggested he will push to delay the hearing.

"It remains to be seen whether the schedule set by the Chairman will be adequate to allow us to meet our important constitutional responsibility to thoroughly review Ms. Kagan's record," Sessions said.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat and co-chair of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, on Tuesday warned that the next Supreme Court justice must be "unwavering" in support of abortion rights. Citing a memo written by Elena Kagan as a Clinton White House adviser in which she recommended that the president support a bill banning late-term abortions, Slaughter called her record on reproductive rights "troubling" and asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to press her on the subject.

In the absence of a judicial paper trail, conservatives and liberals alike have sought clues as to how Kagan might rule on the bench. Slaughter's letter -- addressed to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. -- is perhaps the most public expression of the left's anxieties about President Obama's choice to emerge so far.

Complete text of Slaughter's letter after the jump.

Continue reading Pro-Choice Caucus Not Sold On Kagan

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy announced today his committee will start holding hearings for Elena Kagan on June 28. He said that start date should give the Senate enough time to vote on her nomination before the August recess, which would meet President Obama's timetable. "This is a reasonable schedule that is in line with past practice," said Leahy. He noted that a similar schedule was followed for Justice Sonia Sotomayor last year and Republicans thought that hearing was conducted fairly. The announcement comes a day after the White House sent the panel a collection of Kagan's speeches and writings, in response to questions from committee members.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "In her 1983 masters thesis, Elena Kagan criticized the Supreme Court under liberal icon Earl Warren for what she described as poorly argued rulings, a view that may help her defend herself from any claim by Republican senators that she is a judicial activist," the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Senate Judiciary Committee today released Elena Kagan's nomination questionnaire, a 200-page document in which she details the cases she has argued as solicitor general and in private practice, as well as all associations to which she has belonged, jobs she has held and speeches she has given. The document discloses Kagan's net worth as $1.76 million.

Kagan also provided dozens of attachments, including copies of legal writings and articles over the years in which she was quoted -- even two April Fools' Day columns in the Harvard Law Record satirically attributed to Kagan during her time as dean of the law school, plus her own pieces as a student journalist for The Daily Princetonian in the late '70s, including "New York's rock and roll clubs boom" and "'Prince' accepts advertisement by Playboy."

The full document, plus attachments, can be seen here.

The most important part of Elena Kagan's confirmation process is now, according to panelists at a discussion hosted this afternoon by Georgetown University's Supreme Court Institute.

The 160,000 documents to be released from Bill Clinton's presidential library and the National Archives could shed light on Kagan's ideological position on many issues, the most contentious being her stance on expanded executive powers, partial-birth abortion and limiting assault weapons.

"There is a clear line between John Roberts' memos at the White House and Chief Justice Roberts who's sitting on the bench," said Supreme Court Institute Executive Director Pamela Harris. "That shows just how important these documents are."

Continue reading Kagan Confirmation At Critical Point, Panel Says

The Senate Judiciary Committee is moving toward setting a hearing date for Elena Kagan after White House delivery of Kagan's completed questionnaire to the panel today. The committee will publicly release the questionnaire and attachments following distribution to committee members. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he is meeting late this afternoon with ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to set a date.

Sessions has said the hearing should not come until after the Senate's July 12 return from the Independence Day recess, which means it would occur around the same time as that of Sonia Sotomayor last year. Leahy may push for a hearing in the last two weeks of June, committee members said. By then the American Bar Association will have released its rating of Kagan, which usually takes about four weeks for Supreme Court nominees. The panel is unlikely to act before receiving the ABA rating.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is stepping aside as solicitor general during her confirmation process," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

• "The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that juveniles who commit crimes in which no one is killed may not be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole," the New York Times reports.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Senate Republicans launched a new line of attack on Supreme Court hopeful Elena Kagan on Sunday, questioning whether she supports banning certain books and pamphlets," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "The White House has asked the National Archives to expedite its planned release of 160,000 pages of documents related to" Kagan's "time in the Clinton White House -- including her electronic mail," the New York Times reports.

• "As a Supreme Court law clerk in 1987," Kagan "read the 14th Amendment as permitting lawsuits against reckless state officials who ignore their duties -- reflecting the liberal view that the constitutional guarantee of liberty should be read broadly," the Wall Street Journal reports.

• "Senate Republicans are unlikely to filibuster" Kagan, "but they do plan to pepper her with tough questions about her legal positions, policies and practices during her upcoming confirmation hearings," AP reports.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's second day on Capitol Hill included cordial meetings with key senators, but also brought out anti-abortion protesters.

Elena Kagan heads to the first of meetings with senators on Capitol Hill. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Minutes after Elena Kagan accepted President Obama's nomination to the Supreme Court as the "honor of a lifetime" and the warm applause had died down in the White House East Room, John Podesta was making his way out with other well-wishers when he was asked about potshots already being taken at the nominee.

"Elena Kagan is one of the most qualified people in the country to assume this role," he said. Podesta, who served as President Clinton's chief of staff, echoed the White House's mantra that the 50-year-old solicitor general has sterling credentials and devotion to public service; and that those attacking her are missing the point.

Kagan's supporters say she will be an especially good addition to the Court in these polarized times. She is no ideological crusader, they say, and her intellectual depth and congenial temperament will make her an ideal choice for a Court that has rendered so many 5-4 decisions on hot issues.

Many Republicans remain unconvinced.

Indeed, less than a week after Kagan's nomination, lines of attack and counterattack already have emerged. Republicans, especially, see nomination fights as a way to excite their core supporters, a key ingredient for success in the upcoming midterm elections. Charges that a Supreme Court nominee is an activist determined to advance a personal agenda resonate with this group. "The base will buy it because at this point anything that Obama does is poisonous," said Larry Sabato, a professor of politics at the University of Virginia.

In this week's magazine, National Journal outlines the likely attacks that opponents will make against Kagan throughout the summer, along with the likely responses in defense of her nomination.

Subscribers can continue reading 'Battle Lines Drawn'

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--The lack of a paper trail surrounding Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is leading the news media and Senate Judiciary Committee investigators to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. As an associate counsel in the Clinton White House, Kagan almost certainly provided confidential advice to the president on a range of administration policies and legislative matters that could provide insight into her ideological bent and her interpretations of law that might be of interest during her upcoming confirmation hearings.

But in a wrinkle posed by the Presidential Records Act, any Kagan documents unearthed by the national archivists working in Little Rock cannot be released publicly until both Clinton and President Obama approve. Clinton could instantly approve the public release of any Kagan materials, yet the law protecting presidential records as public property also gives Obama the opportunity to review any such materials at length before public release.

Subscribers to National Journal magazine can read the complete article

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan began winning over Senate centrists during her second day on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers," The Hill reports. "Three pivotal centrists, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), gave Kagan positive reviews after meeting with her privately."

• Brown "did not wait long in his meeting with her Thursday to raise her role in barring military recruiters at Harvard Law School," the New York Times reports.

• "If the Senate confirms" Kagan, "she would serve on a Supreme Court that is likely to take on big questions regarding the powers of the federal government, notably the constitutionality of President Obama's health-care overhaul," the Washington Post reports.

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan continues introducing herself to Senate Judiciary Committee members and other key senators who will decide later this year if she will be confirmed to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

She meets today with Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Arlen Specter, D-Pa., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Ben Cardin, D-Md., Scott Brown, R-Mass., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

The Senate Judiciary Committee this morning released its questionnaire for Elena Kagan. The panel will release the completed form after Kagan has filled it out.

Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions of Alabama said Wednesday that he has yet to reach an agreement with committee Democrats on the records the panel will request. A sticking point may be the scope of a request for documents from Kagan's time as an adviser in the Clinton White House.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Elena Kagan was deeply involved in a host of domestic-policy issues while working for the Clinton White House, often staking centrist positions that suited the president she served," the Wall Street Journal reports.

• "Kagan's lack of judicial experience and her stance on the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy emerged Wednesday as potential flashpoints in her confirmation hearings," the New York Times reports.

• "Kagan said as a U.S. Supreme Court law clerk in 1987 that she was 'not sympathetic' toward a man who contended that his constitutional rights were violated when he was convicted for carrying an unlicensed pistol," Bloomberg News reports.

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan made her rounds on Capitol Hill today, meeting with many senators.

Senate Republicans are working to make the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as much about President Obama as it is about the nominee.

Republicans have said confirmation hearings for Kagan, now solicitor general, offer a chance to question Obama's view of the judiciary and his policies.

"It's my hope that the Obama administration doesn't think the ideal Supreme Court nominee is someone who would rubber-stamp its policies," Senate Minority Leader McConnell said in a floor speech this morning that focused on "the administration's approach to this vacancy."

Republicans appear eager to use Kagan as a stand-in to take on the administration, a step that could allow the minority to score political points without a serious effort to derail the nomination.

Subscribers can read the complete story on CongressDaily.

(Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

Senate Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., called his meeting this afternoon with Elena Kagan "delightful" and said she "grasped" his concerns about adherence to the Constitution, as Kagan continues meeting with senior senators.

Senators offered predictable reactions to the courtesy calls, but Kagan appeared at least to have avoided missteps. Asked if his impression of his conversation with Kagan mattered, Sessions said it did, calling it a "good" development.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he emerged from his meeting with Kagan "confident that she's the right choice." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was more circumspect, saying through a spokesman that he had warned Kagan "this will be a challenging process to go through."

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont said, "I found our private meeting to be helpful and hope she did, as well. We discussed a number of things, and I expect many of those issues will be raised during her confirmation hearing."

Sessions also said he discussed with Kagan her lack of judicial and litigation experience. She made the case that she is qualified, he said. Sessions added that he had also raised the fact that confirmation of Kagan would put four New Yorkers on the court, with Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. That may be "too many," he joked.

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is making the rounds of Senate offices today, marking the unofficial start of the Senate's role in the confirmation process.

Kagan's first stop was with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who said his goal was making the process "as smooth as possible." According to the White House, Kagan will also meet today with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

McConnell said this morning that because her job as solicitor general makes her part of President Obama's team, Kagan must address concerns that she would be a "rubber stamp" for the president.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., raised eyebrows Monday by announcing his opposition to Elena Kagan just hours after President Obama nominated her, but Inhofe explained Tuesday that his quick announcement was an effort to be courteous by avoiding pretense.

Inhofe, a staunch conservative, who last year declined to meet with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on the ground that he had already decided to oppose her, explained, "I'd rather put them out of their misery and just go ahead and do it."

Inhofe said his primary concern is Kagan's refusal as dean of Harvard Law School to allow military recruiting on the campus due to the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy" on gays. His disagreement with Kagan on that issue alone is sufficient to rule out backing her, he said.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona, a senior Judiciary Committee Republican, said Tuesday that GOP efforts to track down records from Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's stint in the Clinton White House could slow efforts to consider the nomination on the timeline sought by Senate Democrats.

"It is really dependent on cooperation from the administration getting information to us," Kyl said. "I think Elena Kagan has tried to be cooperative in that regard. But since some of the records would relate to the Clinton administration and her two positions there, we will have to get approval from somebody to release those records so that we can understand what she did in those positions. The only delay I can see right now might be dependent on how quickly that can be done," Kyl told reporters.

Kagan served under Clinton from 1997 to 1999 as a legal and domestic policy adviser.

Asked if it is essential for Republicans to review Kagan's work under Clinton, Kyl said, "It is very important. On her resume she said she had an important policy position, so I think it is important for us to know what her role was."

Kyl said internal documents from Kagan's work as solicitor general could be treated somewhat differently. "Some of the legal advice within the department would not be necessary for us to see," he said. "I think what we need to know there is simply what decisions did she make in the year that she has been solicitor general about which cases to take and which cases not to, and what the government's position would be."

"As long as she can tell us about that, and I suspect she can -- my guess is she is eager to tell us about that -- that should suffice for that purpose," Kyl said.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The White House rushed Tuesday to allay concerns raised by some civil rights groups about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan and the hiring record of Harvard Law School when she was dean," the Washington Post reports.

• "Senate Republican leaders are launching a full-on assault" against Kagan "over her lack of judicial experience, but they already appear to have a major problem: Their rank-and-file Members aren't buying into it," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• Kagan's "nomination is already becoming a flash point in midterm Congressional campaigns as candidates in both parties try to exploit the coming court fight," the New York Times reports.

See commentary after the jump.

Continue reading Administration Backs Kagan On Hiring

Updated at 3:15 p.m. to include one late respondent.

In our informal poll of SCOTUS-watchers, experts predict Elena Kagan will face criticism for just a few issues, chief among them her opposition to military recruitment on campus and her lack of judicial experience. President Obama announced Monday that Kagan, the current solicitor general, will be his pick to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

Most respondents -- 16 out of 19 -- say her decision as dean of Harvard Law School to ban military recruitment at the campus career services center will be the main sticking point. Kagan was reacting to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

"Numerous senators cited Kagan's extreme actions as dean of the Harvard Law School as the primary reason to oppose her to be solicitor general," one respondent wrote. "This will become an even bigger issue in the confirmation battle in the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor."

Other issues that experts predict could come up include her lack of experience outside academia (she has never been a judge) and what one respondent described as her support for "relatively strong executive authority."

The experts also overwhelmingly predict yes votes from both Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., (who was the only Republican Judiciary Committee member to vote in favor of Sonia Sotomayor last year) and Arlen Specter, D-Pa., (who voted against Kagan for solicitor general). "He's a Democrat now, and all or almost all Democrats will vote for her," one respondent said of Specter. "The ones who might not vote for her don't come from the Northeast." Thirteen of 19 respondents predicted "yea" votes from both senators. Five experts said Graham would vote no, and none said Specter would vote no.

Several respondents complained there isn't a "clear enough record of her views," while one noted that's "also what will make her easier to confirm, ironically."

See comments and a list of participating experts after the jump.

Continue reading Gays In Military Kagan's Biggest Stumbling Block, Experts Say

Across party lines, the pick of Elena Kagan is not as well received as that of Sonia Sotomayor, according to Gallup's instant polling.

Kagan is viewed favorably by 63 percent of Democrats, 35 percent of independents, and 18 percent of Republicans. After her nomination, Sotomayor impressed 72 percent of Democrats, 40 percent of independents and 29 percent of Republicans.

Part of the problem is that more people have "no opinion" of Kagan, who doesn't offer as vivid a personal story as Sotomayor. The 24 percent of respondents who have no opinion of Kagan is the highest recorded by Gallup since it began reviewing instant reaction in 2005, when 15 percent offered no opinion of John Roberts.

A comparison of Gallup's findings over the years:

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan hits the Hill tomorrow for courtesy meeting with top senators.

Kagan is set to meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., a Judiciary Committee member; Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; and Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., according to those offices.

Other senators are working with the White House to set meetings, aides said.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., announced opposition to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan just hours after President Obama selected her Monday to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Inhofe's quick response kicked off a GOP debate about Kagan's resume."

• "The White House is wasting no time getting its campaign under way to sell" Kagan "to the Senate, with an onslaught of phone calls and Hill visits on tap this week in preparation for a final vote by the July Fourth recess," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "Interest groups from across the spectrum took their places along predictable ideological fault lines Monday in ruminating the merits of" Kagan's "nomination to the Supreme Court," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "The selection of" Kagan "to be the nation's 112th justice extends a quarter-century pattern in which Republican presidents generally install strong conservatives on the Supreme Court while Democratic presidents pick candidates who often disappoint their liberal base," the New York Times reports in a news analysis.

• "With his second Supreme Court nomination in as many years," Obama "has laid down clear markers of his vision for the court, one that could prove to be among his most enduring legacies," the Washington Post reports.

See commentary after the jump.

Continue reading Inhofe Leads GOP Attacks

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., announced opposition to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan just hours after President Obama selected her Monday to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Inhofe's quick response kicked off a GOP debate about Kagan's resume.

"Her lack of judicial experience and her interpretation of the Constitution also play an important role in my decision to once again oppose her nomination," Inhofe said, noting he opposed Kagan's nomination as solicitor general last year.

Key Democrats had urged Obama to pick a nonjudge, and in doing so, Obama got a nominee who is free of potentially controversial rulings. But Inhofe joins many Republican senators who immediately questioned Kagan's lack of judicial experience.

As of Monday evening, Inhofe was the only GOP senator to rule out voting for her. Last year he announced opposition to Justice Sonia Sotomayor's nomination early in the process.

Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said he expects Kagan's confirmation this summer and will set a hearing date after consulting with Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions this week.

President Obama again attacked the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission as he announced his pick of Elena Kagan, and the conservative group at the center of the case is firing back.

In remarks today, Obama applauded Kagan's choice as Solicitor General to make the case her first argument, which he claimed "says a great deal not just about Elena's tenacity but about her commitment to serving the American people." Citizens United responded by urging "the Senate to reject Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court."

"Every American has a fundamental right to speak out for or against their elected representatives without fear of reprisal, and a nominee who does not respect that right has no business on our nation's highest court," said the group's president, David Bossie, in a statement released after the announcement. Obama famously derided the court's decision during his State of the Union, when Justice Samuel Alito seemed to shake his head in disagreement with the president's interpretation of the ruling.

Obama's decision to underscore Kagan's involvement of the controversial case, which lifted the ban on corporate spending in elections, indicates to Citizens United that Kagan's "participation in that case was a significant factor in his decision to nominate her to the Supreme Court," writes Bossie. Obama's statements today and when Justice John Paul Stevens stepped down infers "that, as a political matter, Obama wants to make this senate confirmation fight partly about corporate power in a democracy and Citizens United," argues University of Nebraska law professor Marvin Ammori, a legal scholar and expert in cyberlaw, who has questioned Kagan's argument in the case.

Spokesman Will Holley did not respond to questions about whether Citizens United would campaign against Kagan's confirmation.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee seem to agree that Solicitor General Elena Kagan boasts an excellent legal record. But following President Obama's announcement this morning that he had chosen Kagan to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, committee members were divided in their opinion of her judicial philosophy.

Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., praised Kagan for her potential to breathe life into the Supreme Court by bringing "a diversity of life experience" to a cloistered institution. While enumerating her legal credentials, Leahy characterized Kagan's orientation to the law as "well within the mainstream of legal and constitutional thought." He expressed hope for a speedy confirmation, free of the "political rancor and partisanship that has fueled so many recent debates."

In contrast, ranking Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama, citing Kagan's lack of judicial experience, warned that a precipitous confirmation of the president's nominee was unwise. Sessions called attention to Kagan's opposition to the military's controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy while dean of Harvard Law School. And he suggested that Kagan's elevation to the Supreme Court would be corrosive to the institution's historic role as a check on the power of the federal government.

Continue reading Superb Credentials, But What About Her Judicial Philosophy?

Just because Solicitor General Elena Kagan won one confirmation battle doesn't mean she's a sure thing the second time around, according to the highest-ranking Republican who voted for her last year.

In a statement today, Senate GOP whip Jon Kyl, one of seven Republicans to vote to confirm her as the nation's top legal advocate, said his past support was not indicative of future plans.

"As I made clear when I supported her confirmation as Solicitor General, a temporary political appointment is far different than a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," Kyl said in a statement. "Every Senator has a constitutional duty to scrutinize judicial nominees, and I will take great care in examining her record to ensure that she possess the qualities the American people expect in our Supreme Court Justices."

But other GOP senators were more positive about Kagan's chances. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel called both of Maine's Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, this morning to inform them of the choice, and both senators sounded positive in reacting to Kagan's nomination.

Snowe said Kagan "appears to present strong intellectual credentials," while Collins pointed to Kagan's "impressive resume of dedicated public service and strong legal credentials."

Kagan was confirmed by a 61-31 margin last March. Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., joined Kyl, Snowe and Collins in voting for her nomination. Meanwhile, three Democrats still in office did not vote on the nomination, while Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), then caucusing with the GOP, voted against her.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., another GOPer who was absent for Kagan's first confirmation vote, was largely positive, praising Kagan's work as solicitor.

"I have been generally pleased with her job performance as Solicitor General, particularly regarding legal issues related to the War on Terror," Graham said in a statement.

Republicans wasted little time this morning staking out turf for challenging President Obama's nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans would not "rush to judgment" and would question Kagan's "brief litigation experience, as well as judgment and her career in academia." If "academia" is code for questioning the fact that Kagan has never been a judge, history might work against the GOP leader. The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist was never a judge before joining the court. Former California Gov. Earl Warren was another non-judge who not only made it to the high court but ended up as chief justice. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, who will lead confirmation hearings, was among those urging Obama to pick a non-judge.

While McConnell said Republicans would be in no hurry to confirm Kagan, Leahy urged the Senate to act before the start of the August recess. That timetable would put Kagan on the bench in time for the start of the court's fall term.

"Our constituents deserve a civil and thoughtful debate on this nomination, followed by an up-or-down vote," he said.

Democrats are optimistic because seven Republicans voted to confirm Kagan as solicitor general last year, and they are likely to need only one or two votes to clear the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. But some GOP senators say they will apply a different standard for the court nomination than they did when she was up for solicitor general.

(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Today President Obama is nominating Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Here is what National Journal's Stuart Taylor Jr. wrote about Kagan last month when she first emerged as a possible nominee:

Kagan's assets include her outstanding record as a professor and dean at Harvard Law School, where she brought in some conservative professors and calmed the school's politically contentious faculty; her experience as a domestic policy aide in the Clinton White House; her age (only 49); and -- crucially -- her careful avoidance of a paper trail of controversial statements for critics to attack.

"I don't know anyone who has had a conversation with her in which she expressed a personal conviction on a question of constitutional law in the past decade," wrote Tom Goldstein, a leading Supreme Court litigator and the founder of Scotusblog, in a widely read February 23 piece on his website.

The one issue that could slow down Kagan's confirmation is her impassioned effort as dean to bar military recruiting on campus to protest the law banning openly gay people from serving in the military, which she called "a moral injustice of the first order."

Kagan carried this opposition to the point of joining a 2005 amicus brief whose strained interpretation of a law denying federal funding to institutions that discriminate against military recruiters would -- the Supreme Court held in an 8-0 decision -- have rendered the statute "largely meaningless." This helps to explain the 31 Republican votes against confirming her as solicitor general.

Many liberal critics are unhappy with Kagan's arguments as solicitor general supporting the "state secrets" doctrine, detentions without trial, and other broad Obama claims of executive power to fight terrorism -- some of them similar to the Bush policies that liberals hate. But their angst would be no obstacle to confirmation.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "President Obama will nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the nation's 112th justice, choosing his own chief advocate before the Supreme Court to join it in ruling on cases critical to his view of the country's future, Democrats close to the White House said Sunday," the New York Times reports.

• "Democrats are looking to the bipartisan Senate support" Kagan "secured for solicitor general last year as an indicator of how she might fare as a Supreme Court nominee. But Republicans are saying, not so fast," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• The New York Times profiles Kagan.

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription) republishes the questionnaire Kagan filled out to become solicitor general.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made the mistake on April 26 of giving a clear and direct answer to a question about President Obama's search for a Supreme Court nominee.

The rare direct answer was to declare there would be no announcement of a nominee for at least a week. It was an admirable show of pity for White House correspondents trying to plan their coverage. But there has been no pity since.

Continue reading The Daily Dance

From this morning's Earlybird:

• The New York Times reports on Elena Kagan's "moral dilemma" over whether to allow military recruiters on campus at Harvard, and what it could mean now for her chances of being nominated to the Supreme Court.

Mark Senate Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions down for Monday in the guessing game over when President Obama will name his Supreme Court nominee.

The Alabama Republican said he doesn't know who Obama will name and hasn't gotten a timeline from the White House, but he speculated the name will come Monday.

"We think -- you know, last time it was on a Monday and so if they follow that pattern, I guess they would do it this Monday," Sessions said. "That's kind of some of the talk."

Why then? "I don't know, really, but I think they were happy on the way it rolled out last time," he said.

While Judiciary Committee Republicans including Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas spoke in recent days with Obama, Sessions said he hasn't discussed the pick with the president since an April 21 meeting with other key senators. But Sessions said that may be because the White House is familiar with his views on judicial restraint, which he has not been shy about expressing.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• Federal appeals court judge Sidney R. Thomas "is, by most accounts, a long shot on the short list" to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, "but supporters say he represents the values the president has said he wants," the New York Times reports.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• President Obama "interviewed federal judge Diane Wood of Chicago on Tuesday for an opening on the Supreme Court, the fourth candidate known to have had face-to-face talks with the president, a person familiar with the conversation told" the AP.

• Obama "is summoning two Senate Judiciary Republicans to the White House" this morning "to discuss the Supreme Court nomination process," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The president will meet separately with" Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah "in closed meetings to talk about where things stand in his process of selecting a nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens."