Documenting The Real Elena Kagan

It's no mystery why the White House wants nominee Elena Kagan to remain a mystery. The more we know of her views, the more we know she'd be a justice of the left. The way the president wants to rush the Kagan nomination through, you'd think having her confirmed would plug the hole at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. solicitor general was nominated on May 10, and Senate Democrats have scheduled her hearings to begin just seven weeks later, on June 28. Compare with the case of another solicitor general, Judge Robert Bork, nominated by President Reagan on July 1, 1987, but whose hearings didn't begin until Sept. 15. Then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden and his colleagues gave themselves 2 1/2 months to gather and load their ammunition. In even less than a month, some of the worst fears of Republicans about the aggressiveness of the nominee's ideology are being confirmed...more