Liberals Question Kagan's Stance on Detainees

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Source: SF Gate

Conservatives are the chief skeptics about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, but liberals have worries of their own.

Liberals, especially civil liberties advocates, fear that the 50-year-old nominee who now serves as the Obama administration's solicitor general is insufficiently committed to their causes.

Objections from the left focus mostly on Kagan's legal advocacy for policies inherited from President George W. Bush to keep terrorism suspects and war prisoners in American custody overseas and out of U.S. courts.

"Kagan's stated commitment to due process and judicial review for detainees (has) not been reflected in positions she has taken as solicitor general on behalf of the Obama administration," said the ACLU in a 30-page review of Kagan's record.

Since becoming solicitor general last year, Kagan has represented the Obama administration in court against detainees seeking release from U.S. prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/27/MNUC1E57D6.DTL&type=politics#ixzz0s3pl7Y8Z