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WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) said Wednesday he will oppose Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan because of her role in limiting military recruiters' access to Harvard University students.
"Given the choice to uphold a law that was unpopular with her peers and students or interpret the law to achieve her own political objectives, she chose the latter," McCain said in an editorial set to appear in USA Today on Thursday. "I cannot support her nomination to the Supreme Court where, based on her prior actions, it appears unlikely that she would exercise judicial restraint." McCain, the Republican party's 2008 nominee for president, isn't a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is set to vote on Kagan's nomination on July 13.
Kagan's role in limiting military recruitment on Harvard's campus has been one of the central challenges to her nomination.
While dean of Harvard Law School, Kagan implemented a policy whereby military recruiters had access to students through a school veteran's group, rather than through the office of career services. In her Senate testimony, Kagan explained that the military couldn't sign a non-discrimination agreement required by the Office of Career Services due to a policy that prohibits openly gay members from serving in the military.
Nonetheless, she insisted that the veteran's group provided students with full access to military recruiters. "The military at all times during my deanship had full and good access," Kagan said in her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Republicans have argued otherwise, saying that Kagan's policy at Harvard broke the law, known as the Solomon Amendment, that requires schools to provide the military with equal access to students if they are to receive federal aid.
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones Newswires
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