Several conservative groups unleashed strong criticism of President Barack Obama's nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court Monday, signalling that, as expected, her support for banning military recruiters from Harvard because of a ban on openly gay servicemembers will be a rallying point for them.
"She's not going to be someone who is following judicial restraint," said Gary Marx, executive director of the Judicial Crisis Network. Marx said his group will reach out to grassroots supporters, especially those in "red states with Democratic senators," such as Arkansas, where Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) is engaged in a tight battle for reelection this year.
Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council said he expects his group to "take a leadership role" in the debate over Kagan, given the prominence of the gays in the military issue. "We leave nothing off the table," he said, adding that the group could run print, radio and television ads in targeted Senate districts, especially those of conservative Democrats and "Republicans we believe voted the wrong way when she was up for solicitor general."
And Curt Levey of the Committee for Justice described Kagan as having "the thinnest record" of any potential nominee. Levey said that "at this point, no one should be making decisions to oppose or confirm her. The next step is to find out more."
The Tea Party movement could also play a role. In what was seen as a Tea Party-driven defeat, Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) lost his party's nomination over the weekend, something Marx said could "give the Republican senators even greater backbone to push for a strong debate" over Kagan.
Mark Meckler, a California-based coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, one of the national Tea Party groups, said any activity around the Kagan nomination would likely come from local groups. The national group will collect information on Kagan and distribute it, he said, and will put out a statement on "principles" that the national group feels should be used to evaluate the nomination.
"Folks will look for the information, they'll make a decision about how they want to be involved in the process," he said.
Shelby Blakely, the executive director of the New Patriot Journal and Hot Tea Radio, said that research into Kagan's record is still ongoing, but "if we find things we don't like about her, if we feel she would be a threat to constitutionally limited government, we would then target our representatives...to not vote for her."
Liberal groups, meanwhile, were mixed. Marge Baker, the executive vice president for policy and program planning for People for the American Way, and Nan Aron, of the Alliance for Justice, were in the audience in the East Room when Obama introduced Kagan as his nominee. Both groups issued statements praising Kagan, with Aron saying she would "bring to the Court a respect for core constitutional values and a willingness to stand up for the rights of ordinary Americans."
In an interview, Baker said PFAW was planning to send members an e-mail alert about the nomination on Monday "to sort of help set the stage." Together with Alliance for Justice and Moveon.org, PFAW took out a full-page ad in Monday's Washington Post setting the stage for the new nominee. The ad doesn't mention Kagan, but blasts several recent Supreme Court decisions, ending by saying that "Americans need a Justice who will dispense justice to Americans, not protect corporate profits at our expense."
Baker dismissed the idea of a Tea Party-sparked filibuster of Kagan, saying that "some of the forces at work in Utah are the same forces, I believe, that want the kind of accountability for big corporations and powerful interests that I believe are part of the debate around this nomination."
John Podesta, head of the liberal Center for American Progress and, like Kagan, a former Clinton administration official, also came out with a strong statement of support, as did Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. Others, including the Center for Reproductive Rights and The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said they were still evaluating her record.
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