Gay, Rather, Day Three at the Kagan Hearings
Between the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and marriage questions, there was quite a bit of talk about LGBT issues in the third day of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Supreme Court nominee and Solicitor General Elena Kagan.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) discussed DADT legal challenges with Kagan for nearly 15 minutes. Metro Weekly covered the exchange in “Kagan’s DADT Dance.”
Later, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) asked about same-sex marriage, referencing Kagan’s written answer to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tx.) about whether the constitution recognizes sam-sex marriage. Kagan’s response at the time: “There is no federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage.”
In response to Kyl’s questioning about whether she meant that the law currently contains no such federal right or whether it meant there had not yet been found such a right, Kagan did not respond directly becuase such a case is likely to come before the court. She did note that the purpose of Cornyn’s question at the time — and her answer — related to whether she would be willing to defend the law.
Also, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) returned to the topic of Sessions’s questioning on Tuesday: Harvard Law School’s policy toward military recruitment.
Finally, toward the end of the senators’ questioning, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) referenced marriage cases.
Kagan’s time before the committee ended a little past 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Witnesses supporting and opposing Kagan’s nomination will begin being heard by the committee on Thursday.
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