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.

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