Media Matters - RW Media Distorts Kagan's Opposition To DADT As Opposition To Military As A Whole

[TomCADem]

The right wing media is out with the fear and smear again. First, by mischaracterizing her support for repealing DADT as opposition to the military. Second, by starting a whisper campaign that her support for gay rights must mean that she is gay.

http://mediamatters.org/research/201004270036

Peter Beinart claimed that Republicans are "right" to "beat the hell out of" Solicitor General Elena Kagan for "barring the military from campus."

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Kagan's decision to briefly reinstate restrictions on military recruiters followed Third Circuit decision stating that the law requiring full access was unconstitutional. In 2004, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit held 2-1 in FAIR v. Rumsfeld that the Solomon Amendment -- which stated that universities that do not provide access to military recruiters cannot receive certain federal money -- violated First Amendment free-speech rights. Judge Walter Stapleton, a Reagan appointee, joined the majority opinion in the case. Stapleton had previously been appointed to a federal district court judgeship by President Nixon. Kagan subsequently reinstated the ban against military recruitment through OCS for one semester in 2005 after the 3rd Circuit held that the law was unconstitutional. Kagan explained that she took the action because the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy violated Harvard's non-discrimination policy.

While restrictions were in place, military recruiters had access to Harvard Law students through school's veterans association. As Kagan explained in a September 2005 letter to her colleagues:

The Law School's anti-discrimination policy, adopted in 1979, provides that any employer that uses the services of OCS to recruit at the school must sign a statement indicating that that it does not discriminate on various bases, including sexual orientation. As a result of this policy, the military was barred for many years from using the services of OCS. The military retained full access to our students (and vice versa) through the good offices of the Harvard Law School Veterans Association, which essentially took the place of OCS in enabling interviews to occur.

...

I reinstated the application of our anti-discrimination policy to the military (after appropriate consultation with University officials) in the wake of the Third Circuit's decision; as a result, the military did not receive OCS assistance during our spring 2005 recruiting season.

[Bitwit1234]

1. So what if she is gay ==

just look at all the closet gays in the republican party that have been found out lately. Throw that back at them. That it is OK for a person to be whatever they want, even a republican.

[KharmaTrain]

2. She's Gonna Get Hit On All Sides...

We've already seen some on this side of the sandbox who aren't too crazy about Ms. Kagan and I expect her getting hit with similar writings or decisions from the opposite side. Her speeches and positions will be cherry picked as to serve the purpose of those who want to oppose her nomination...and partly a reason I still get a feeling she isn't the pick. She's too well known, too easy to oppo research (as we're already seeing) and this creates a nice smoke screen to bring out another nominee and send everyone inside the beltway scrambling.