Senator Kyl

SEN. JON KYL (R-AZ) TELLS FOX NEWS CHANNEL THAT “IT’S IMPORTANT” TO HAVE A “GOOD UNDERSTANDING” OF KAGAN’S BACKGROUND BECAUSE IT WASN’T ADDRESSED AT HER CONFIRMATION FOR SOLICITOR GENERAL

In an interview this morning on FOX News Channel’s (FNC) America’s Newsroom immediately following President Obama’s announcement nominating Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) emphasized the need for understanding of Kagan’s background.

Interview excerpts are below:

ON KAGAN’S SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENT AND THE CONFIRMATION PROCESS:

“It’s important for us to have a good understanding of her background that we didn’t delve into so much at her confirmation for Solicitor General.”

“This is a lifetime appointment now that the President has nominated her for and she is quite young, at not quite 50 years of age, she could serve on the Supreme Court for 30 or 40 years theoretically.”

ON VOTING IN FAVOR OF KAGAN’S SOLICITOR GENERAL POSITION:

“I made it clear that for the temporary position of Solicitor General, a position that she might hold for a matter of maybe four years at most, that I could overlook her relative lack of experience and lack of knowledge about her background.”

“We could see how well she would do in that position to judge her for a more permanent one.”

ON WHAT HE WOULD LIKE TO ASK KAGAN:

“There are two key things that all lead to a central point, the first is the relative lack of experience; I’m not suggesting that anyone has to have been a judge to serve as a justice, although that’s a good experiential basis for it.”

“What does she really believe? She has written very little, she has taken very few policy positions and the one policy position that she took in favor of gay rights when she was dean of the Harvard Law School directly contrary to congressional law, the so called Solomon amendment, troubled many.”