Elena Kagan Confirmation Hearings — Day 2

Picking up from yesterday, at USA Today, "Kagan Promises 'Impartiality' as Senate Hearings Begin."

And this morning at Daily Caller, "Republicans Bring Up Kagan's Record on Military":

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan on Tuesday defended her policy of barring military recruiters from the Harvard Law School career counseling office, saying the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell” policy violated its anti-discrimination policy.

“We were trying to make sure that military recruiters had full and complete access to our students,” Kagan told Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, “and we were also trying to protect our anti-discriminatory policy. So we were trying to do both of those things.”

Kagan repeated before the Senate Judiciary Committee her opposition to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and said she subsequently eased the policy at the request of the Department of Defense.

Kagan said that as dean of the law school, she never totally cut off military recruiters’ access to students, but rather encouraged military veterans’ organizations, rather than the school, to sponsor these efforts.

“I said on many occasions that this (military service) was a great thing for our students to think about doing in their lives,” she told the Alabama senator. Kagan said that Harvard had a strict anti-discriminatory policy, “and the military could not sign that pledge.”

The recruitment matter is one of the few points on her resume that Republicans have been able to use against her. Her policies and writings on the issue call up broader themes of patriotism and equal rights, both emotional topics at a time when the nation is at war and both parties are gearing up for the midterm elections. In some measure, the November balloting will be a referendum on her patron, President Barack Obama.

But see John McCormack, at Weekly Standard, "Kagan Defends Discriminating Against Military at Harvard" (via Memorandum). And at Weasel Zippers, "Kagan Defends Discriminating Against Military at Harvard... Had No Problem Using Saudi Money to Establish an Islamic Law Program..."

Plus, live-blogging at Althouse.

RELATED: From Ed Morrissey, "Kagan's SCOTUS Deception to Defend Partial-Birth Abortions."