elena-kagan-Last week, I noted that Senator McCain was opposing the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice nominee Elena Kagan on the basis that she deny access to military recruiters while the dean of Harvard Law School. It turns out that, like a lot of Republican talking points these days, while it made for a great sound bite, it simply isn’t true. Media Matters, a progressive research institute, did some digging an came up with this reality check:


Myth: Kagan’s policies on military recruiters make her “an anti-military zealot” and an extremist on social issues

CLAIM: Kagan’s policies regarding military recruiters at Harvard indicate that she is an “anti-military” “radical” who “defied” the law . Phyllis Schlafly claimed in her March 31 syndicated column that Kagan “defied the Solomon Amendment” — a statute requiring schools to provide the same access to military recruiters that they provide to other potential employers or lose federal funding. Liz Cheney called Kagan’s actions “radical,” and other conservatives have also distorted Kagan’s position regarding military recruiters on Harvard Law School’s campus. And The Washington Times published a 2009 op-ed referring to Kagan as “an anti-military zealot.”

REALITY: Kagan consistently followed the law, and Harvard students had access to military recruiters during her entire tenure as dean. Throughout Kagan’s tenure as dean, Harvard law students had access to military recruiters — either through Harvard’s Office of Career Services or through the Harvard Law School Veterans Association. Moreover, Kagan consistently followed existing law regarding access to military recruiters. Kagan briefly restricted (but did not eliminate) access to recruiters only after the U.S Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled that law schools could do so. As The New York Times explained in a May 6 article:

[Kagan’s] management of the recruiting dispute shows her to have been, above all, a pragmatist, asserting her principles but all the while following the law, so that Harvard never lost its financing.

[…]

[E]ven when she … briefly barred the military from using the law school’s main recruitment office, she continued a policy of allowing the military recruiters access to students.

Moreover, during her confirmation hearing as solicitor general in 2009, Kagan pledged to defend the Solomon Amendment.