RUSH: Elena Kagan is testifying again today at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on her nomination to the US Supreme Court. One of the best ways to understand what’s going on here is conservatives, people like us, see the Constitution as an outline of our rights and a check to government intrusion upon them. Liberals — like Kagan, like Obama — see the Constitution as a way to control us, and that is an amazingly stark difference. Amazing. Here’s Elena Kagan today on Capitol Hill. Orrin Hatch with the question. ‘According to the documents we received, you wrote a memo to your superiors in the Clinton White House. You noted the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists were considering a statement that its experts panel found no circumstances under which partial-birth abortion was the only option for saving the life or preserving the health of the woman. The political objective of keeping partial-birth abortion legal appears to have trumped what a medical organization originally wrote and left to its own scientific inquiry and that they had concluded. Did you write that memo?’
KAGAN: Senator, with respect I — I — I don’t think that that’s what happened, uh, here.
HATCH: I’m happy to have you clarify. That’s my question. Did you write that memo?
KAGAN: I’m sorry, the memo which is…?
HATCH: The memo that basically caused them to go back to the language of ‘medically necessary,’ that was the big issue to begin with.
KAGAN: Yes. Well, I’ve seen the document and the document is —
HATCH: But did you write it?
KAGAN: — is certainly —
HATCH: Is that your memo?
KAGAN: The document is certainly in my handwriting.
RUSH: That’s unbelievable! Gee whiz. Do you think this is how her interview went to become the dean of Harvard Law? Don’t you think you need to be a little bit more forthcoming in a interview for the Supreme Court than you do at Harvard Law? Look at how long it took him, 27 seconds. She won’t say she wrote it, but she admits in her handwriting. She will not admit that she wrote it. ‘Well, I… Yeah, the document’s certainly in my handwriting,’ and don’t forget the substance here. This woman was arguing for the political necessity of partial-birth abortion rather than listening to what medical experts were saying about it. She was a pure, 150% political animal when she was working in the Clinton administration. Listen to this again. Now that you know where it’s going, listen to this sound bite again.
KAGAN: Senator, with respect I — I — I don’t think that that’s what happened, uh, here.
HATCH: I’m happy to have you clarify. That’s my question. Did you write that memo?
KAGAN: I’m sorry, the memo which is…?
HATCH: The memo that basically caused them to go back to the language of ‘medically necessary,’ that was the big issue to begin with.
KAGAN: Yes. Well, I’ve seen the document and the document is —
HATCH: But did you write it?
KAGAN: — is certainly —
HATCH: Is that your memo?
KAGAN: The document is certainly in my handwriting.
RUSH: Can you imagine if this were John Roberts or Samuel Alito or Clarence Thomas?
‘Well, I’ve seen the memo, yeah.’
‘Did you write it?’
‘Well, I’ve seen it. What memo you talking about?’
‘You know, the memo that says X.’
‘Oh. Yeah. Yeah, I’ve seen the memo. But, Senator, I don’t think…’
‘No, no, I’m just asking: Did you write it?’
‘Well, the document’s certainly in my handwriting.’
And they say she’s a ‘trailblazer’? What trail, pray tell, is she blazing here? Whatever trail she’s covering it up, there’s no question about it. A lot of the media reporting about Kagan last couple days has described her as a ‘trailblazer,’ folks. She’s not the first woman nominated, so it can’t be that. That was done by a Republican with Reagan’s nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor. She’s not the first person who’s Jewish. That was Justice Brandeis. She’s not even the first Jewish woman. That was Ruth Ginsburg. Is there some kind of token the Supreme Court was still missing that I haven’t seen?
Well, what trail is she blazing here? (interruption) I’m sorry, Snerdley, I’m at my wits’ end. Oh. Okay, so they played softball. Big whoop! So she… (interruption) Oh. Do you see how clean and pure as the wind-driven snow my mind is? It’s not polluted. Okay, so that’s the trail that some of YOU think might be being blazed here; is that right? She plays softball. Okay. Well, the document certainly in her handwriting. I just want you stop and think what would happen if any Republican nominee had tried to dodge the question and then finally given up an answer that, ‘Well, yeah, it’s in my handwriting but that’s no proof that I wrote it.’ Essentially that’s what she was saying. She was trying to not admit that she wrote it, but, ‘It’s in my handwriting.’