“Gender-Mixed Marriages” at the Kagan Hearings
The first explicit mention of same-sex marriage at the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Solicitor General Elena Kagan came in an exchange with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in which he was asking “What is the makeup of Elena Kagan?” The C-SPAN video is not available at this time, but grainy video of the question period for Coburn can be found here.
Coburn: I know what a liberal is, and I think you’re a liberal … You’re very pro-choice. You believe in a woman’s right to choose. You believe in gender-mixed marriages, or gay marriage. You believe that states oughta recognize those throughout. If I say something that is inappropriate, please tell me.
Kagan: Senator Coburn, I suppose what I would wanna say at this point is that the way I would vote as a legislator with respect to any or all of those issues is a very different –
Coburn: I’m not trying to label as a judge. … I’m not saying you aren’t going to have the capability to separate those positions. But it is important … I’m not saying that that will limit you’re ability to make great decisions as a jurist, and I wanna separate that right now. But the American people deserve to know: What is the makeup of Elena Kagan?
It’s not unfair to say who you are, but you’re different than me and you’re different than many of the people I represent.
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